


Plum Soulmates

by jdho2



Series: Plum Soulmates [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fix-It, Multi, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-17 20:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 56,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3542276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdho2/pseuds/jdho2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AU Crossover! Various soulmates Steph would have if her world crossed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because you just know she'd wind up with one or some of them. Series of predominantly unrelated one-shots! Rated T for possibly not the cleanest language. DISCLAIMER: I own no characters or anything you recognize from either fandom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stay Down - Steph & Natasha

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Soulmate Shorts AKA The Crackship Armada](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658407) by [ozhawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozhawk/pseuds/ozhawk). 
  * Inspired by [write love on my skin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1835587) by [amusewithaview](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview). 



> So, I've never seen Soulmate AUs for the Janet Evanovich universe (if anyone has seen any, please send them my way, I'd love to read them!), but they're all over the Avengers and Marvel fandoms, especially on AO3. In particular, I'd recommend Ozhawk's set that are Avengers (and other Marvel characters) X Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As well as Amusewithaview's set.
> 
> Anyway, so unless otherwise specified in an author's note at the beginning, they'll all have the same premise. When your soulmate is born, their first words to you appear on their skin- almost like a tattoo. Romantic soulmates are in black "ink", while platonic are grey. It is possible to have one, none, or multiple in either or both categories.
> 
> My goal here is to have some fun first of all. If you have any requests for pairings, first words, or anything really, let me know! The plan is for these to all be matches with Steph, though other requests will be accepted and considered. Secondary goal is to potentially find stories that people want to see more of, so let me know if you want one continued!
> 
> Pairings will get repeated! Let me know if there are any questions.

**Stay Down - Steph & Natasha (platonic)**

_**Natasha's POV** _

Some missions were just doomed from the get-go and no amount of preparation or surveillance could fix them. Budapest had been like that, yet somewhere in the hail of bullets Clint and I had realized that Fate was right and we really were meant to be together. Or, rather that was when I had realized it, finally, even though Clint had been saying it for months. I finally confessed to it after The Battle of New York, and Clint stopped looking at me like I was crazy when I mentioned Budapest in a positive context. In fact, now he got a look on his face like a love sick puppy anytime I so much as thought the word "Budapest". It was really embarrassing, really.

We'd been doing surveillance on what was our first mission back in the field together now that Clint was fully mentally healed and able to go into battle post-Loki, and I was already seeing a lot of parallels. The first seemed to be the fact that we weren't the only ones running an op and keeping surveillance on this guy. Which was odd because we had informed the local PD of our plan and they had agreed to stay our of our way.

We were behind schedule at the moment because I'd taken some time to try to figure out what was going on and who those big black SUVs with tinted windows belonged to. They practically screamed government or military, yet when I ran the plates, they came back private security.

"Guys, heads up. We've got company on some level here, not sure if they're friendly, neutral, or enemy, but no matter what, they'll probably be a problem."

"What've you got, Tash?" Clint asked over the earpiece.

"Three big black SUVs set up- two out front and one in back. I can't see inside because the windows are tinted, but JARVIS is picking up at least two large masses of body heat per SUV as well as communications equipment signals."

"Secure channel seven," Cap interrupted and I rolled my eyes at the idea that I wouldn't have done so before I'd started talking.

"Seven secure," I replied before continuing. "Plates come back to a Rangeman Securities. Seems to be a private security contracting company with offices in Trenton and a few other cities. They seem to be on the up and up, so hopefully they're just providing security to some dumb rich guy who likes to get drunk and start shit on weekends."

Sam coughed into the comm something that sounded like "Stark," and I bit my tongue to keep from responding to Stark's denial that he'd ever been like that. I usually found it best not to remind Tony of the time I infiltrated Stark Industries to spy on him.

"This is a serious mission, everyone." Steve said in full Captain America mode, "target is Robert Morgan, and if this guy knows even half of what we think he does, we need to bring him in quickly and alive."

"Alright, Tasha, go in there and do your thing," Clint said and when I looked over my shoulder at his perch, staged as a worker from a Cable company up in a cherry picker, he blew me a kiss.

As soon as I walked in, I realized that luck was not in my side. There were way too many big, bulky guys for my hopes of what Rangeman was doing here to be realized.

"Yeah, looks like this thing is going to turn into a party real soon; I think all of these security guys are former military. Probably special ops since they're actually blending in well. And they look to be on an operation of their own, not standard security."

As I looked over the men, trying to figure out what they were up to, all hell started to break loose around me. It seemed to start with a woman with curly brunette hair who was about my size kneeing a man in the size of Cap (with fewer muscles) in the crotch. From the looks of it, she'd put a decent amount of power behind it.

"That had to hurt," I murmured with amusement barely able to contain a laugh.

Catching sight of our target, I started moving toward him hoping to get him out before anything further happened. That's when the bullets started flying. Only in fucking Trenton would that many people be in a club armed!

"How many times do I have to tell you not to start bar fights without me?" Clint complained over my earpiece, "it's no fair since you always finish them before I get there to help."

"I swear it wasn't me," I replied.

"Likely story, Red," Stark replied.

"Our man's on the move. Back door," I said.

I waited patiently, dodging out of the way, taking out a few armed men I couldn't dodge. and generally keeping an eye on everything until I heard Tony say, "got him. Meet you all at the rendezvous point." That was followed by the sound of his repulsors firing and a man screaming in surprise.

"Alright, Natasha, get out of there," Steve commanded.

I had every intention of following him, I really did. Even when I felt the bullet rip through the side of my arm and my brand new leather jacket, which just pissed me off. That momentary distraction was the only reason that she got the drop on me, but I found myself pushed to the ground and the brunette from earlier covering me with her body for a moment.

Then she yelled at me over the noise, "stay down, I got this!" Sure enough she proceeded to stand up with a taser and take out who I assume was the gunman. When the guy she'd performed the testicle rearrangement on earlier stepped around him to grab her, I saw a moment of panic in her eyes before she blinked it away and managed to use his momentum to toss him on the floor in front of her. Hard. She pulled cuffs out of I don't know where given the way she was dressed and said, "Chucho Perez, you failed to appear in court, and I am apprehending you on behalf of Rangeman, Trenton PD, and women everywhere you sick, sick son of a bitch!"

The chaos had died down around us and several large men strode forward to take "Chucho" from the small woman. When the one with the medic bag asked if she was okay, she waved him off before steering him in my direction.

"Sorry about that, I was hoping to get him outside without incident, but he recognized me and had way more backup in here than my team and I thought. This is Bobby, and he can look you over if you want."

"The hell he will," Clint said over the com.

I waved the man off and strode toward the woman, not pausing when all the men around her tensed up and several drew their weapons on me. Holding out my hand, I shook her hand and said, "that was a decent showing." I paused before adding, "Acceptable technique, I suppose, for a civilian, who was no doubt trained by a bunch of men twice her size. But I'm definitely going to have to show you a lot more moves more suited to someone of our stature."

Her eyes lit up and she bounced just as much as her curls while clapping her hands. She pulled off a very nice stiletto shoe and showed me "that was a decent showing" written on the bottom of her foot in grey and what was definitely my handwriting. I smiled at her up, turned around, pulled back my hair and rubbed off the makeup displaying to her the words, "stay down, I got this."

She pulled me into a hug and said, "Stephanie Michelle Plum. But just Steph to you!"

I smiled, hugged her back and said, "Natasha Romanov, or whatever abbreviation of that you want."

"Oh hell, Babe," the man who seemed to be the leader said, "only you would have the Black Widow as your platonic soulmate. The two of you together will probably burn down the world for fun, and heaven help us if one of her teammates is your romantic soulmate."

"Well, what do you say we go meet the ones who are brave enough and find out?" I asked, nodding when she agreed, looping her arm through my good one and chattering about all the fun tricks she wanted me to teach her. I let out a mischievous smile at the groan I heard in surround sound from all the men in the room but also from Clint over my earpiece when I of course agreed to teach her everything I know.


	2. I'm Not Here to Hurt You - Steph/Bucky

**I'm Not Here to Hurt You - Steph/Bucky**

_**Steph's POV** _

It had been an absolute shit day. The skip I'd been sent after by my cousin Vinnie apparently owned his own company. He was a paint manufacturer, and of course, I'd tracked him down in his place of business. As was true with most of my skips, he hadn't so much forgotten about his court appearance as he was disinclined to go to force and face the possibility of jail time. I had politely offered to give him a ride in to the courthouse to reschedule his appointment and he had much less politely told me where I could put the courthouse.

Honestly, I didn't think it would fit. Before I could tell him that, he'd taken the opportunity to throw a couple gallons of paint on me. When I'd simply stood there sputtering, he'd taken that opportunity to throw a couple more gallons of yet another color of paint on me. As I'd chased him throughout the factory, he'd gotten several more opportunities to do the same, and I for one was glad that they didn't put lead in paint anymore. Right? I really hoped so at least.

By the time I'd caught up with him, I was in no mood to deal with any of his crap, so I tackled him with a move that Ranger had shown me and forced his hands behind his back and into my cuffs. At least I hadn't lost my cuffs today. That was a pretty low bar for a highlight for the day. Of course, the paint hadn't been the end of it.

When I'd pulled into the police parking lot, I had noticed that something seemed to be happening. The place was abuzz with way more activity than usual. I'd even noticed a couple of media crews out front, and was grateful that I'd be able to pull in around back and hopefully out of range of any cameras.

As soon as I had stepped foot inside, I realized just how bad my luck had gotten that day. It appeared that the Avengers were in Trenton. For the life of me, I couldn't think of one possible reason that the Avengers would be in Trenton other than for fate to mess with me just a little bit more on an already hellacious day. I took a couple more steps forward, trying very hard to hide my limp and shoving my skip in front of me. The roar of noise that had greeted me cut completely out.

"Looking good there, Steph!" One of the cops, and I couldn't tell who it was, yelled out. In response I simply flipped the bird in that general direction. I shoved my capture up to the booking desk and gave Robin a small smile. As hard as she tried, she couldn't hold back the look of pure pity she had on her face.

"Hey, Steph," she greeted me. "Who have you got for us today?"

"Trev Garnett. Wanted on charges of failure to pay child support. I've got my right to apprehend paperwork right here, let me grab it for you," so saying, I put my hand into my bag and of course, Trev took the opportunity to try to make a break for it. What he was thinking in a room full of cops and the freaking Avengers, I didn't know. I sighed and turned around just as the Black Widow flipped him onto the ground.

Great, as if the paint wasn't bad enough, now the Avengers were having to recapture my skips when they tried to flee. Hawkeye bent down and pulled Trev to his feet, handing him off to me and giving me a nod when I gave flashed a smile of thanks to him and Black Widow.

I turned to Robin and gave her the paperwork, then waited as she came out to grab Trev and start the booking process. Knowing by the fact that it was still silent around me, I figured the superheroes were still standing behind me. Slowly, I turned around, "soooo…" I started, "what brings you all to Trenton?"

"You a bounty hunter?" Captain America asked in his deep voice. When I nodded, he looked at the rest of his team who shrugged their shoulders. "You have a lot of connections in town?"

"More in some places than other, but sure."

"We're looking for a… friend… of mine. Someone who has had a rough time of it lately, and we're trying to track him down to help him out. We heard that he was in Trenton and are trying to confirm it."

He held out the fanciest phone I'd ever seen and I looked at the picture on it and froze. I knew who that was- I'd seen the footage of Captain America's first battle with him in DC that had leaked when all of SHIELD's files leaked.

When I stiffened, the Black Widow was immediately in my face calmly assessing me. "How do you know who he is?"

"I work part-time for a local security company, Rangeman LLC. I do data work for them, usually searches, but when SHIELD's files leaked, they brought me in to help them read through everything. Obviously, I saw his picture when he was fighting you all. You say you want to help him?"

With an earnest expression, Captain America said, "yes. He wasn't doing what he did willingly, and we want to help him." He slid a card into my hand and added, "If you know who he is, then you know not to approach him if you find him. Just call that number and tell whoever answers if you hear anything."

I nodded my head, and finally turned back to where Robin had finished processing and was holding my body receipt out to me. After thanking her, I turned back around and saw the six men and one woman still staring at me. I gave them a smile but before I could leave, the Falcon spoke up, "I'm sorry. Just in case we never see or hear from you again, I have to know. What is with the paint? Not knowing will drive me crazy."

"That's fine. I appreciate you all not making fun of me like others no doubt will the next time I see them," I said casting my glance over to the bullpen and the cops who were still openly gaping and some pointing at me and chuckling amongst themselves. I could even see some money changing hands. "Trev owns a paint manufacturing company, and I found him at the warehouse. He didn't want to come back in."

Not really sure what to do with the information they just nodded, so I took the opportunity to sneak out with a little finger wave back at them before I made it out the door. Well, that had been horribly embarrassing, I thought to myself as I drove away.

When I finally made it into my apartment, I shut the door behind me with a thunk and leaned against it letting out a breath. I took three steps into the apartment before something told me I wasn't alone. From a darkened corner of my bedroom I heard a voice say in a placating tone, "I'm not here to hurt you," a man stepped forward holding both hands in front of him as though trying to prove he wasn't a threat. One was flesh and one metal. "I just needed somewhere to hide until dark, and your apartment was easy to get into. I was hoping because you weren't home that you were out of town I'd be able to get in and out without you ever knowing."

"You know, given the line of work I've fallen into, it has always been reassuring to know that my soulmate wasn't going to try to hurt me."

His eyes bugged out of his head as he looked at me, so I spun around and pulled my shirt out of the way so that he could read the words written on the small of my back. I shivered when I felt a cold finger move along them ever so gently.

I turned back around and smiled at him saying, "hi, I'm Stephanie Plum. I'm a bounty hunter, though admittedly not a great one, and I do a little work here and there for a private security company. I know who you are, and you're obviously welcome to stay here as long as you like. But if you're hiding from Captain America and his friends, I feel compelled to tell you that I did meet them in the police station today. I won't tell them you're here unless and until you want me to. If that day never comes, that's fine. If it does though, I'm certain they don't mean you any harm."

He smiled softly, "I know, but I'm not ready for them to find me yet. I think right now I just want to get to know you, Doll." He slid his arms around me to the small of my back, pulling me into him slowly while gauging my reaction. "You can call me James or Bucky, whichever you'd prefer. And what do you say I help you become the world's best bounty hunter?"

I leaned up and gave him a soft kiss before saying, "I want to get to know you to. And if you think you can, you're welcome to try."

"I know I can, Doll."


	3. Undeniable Forces - Steph/Thor + Steph & Natasha & Sif

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, this one is not so short, but in my defense, there are A LOT of cards in play! Note, soulmates work a little differently when Asgardians are involved, but I'll let that explain itself...

**Undeniable Forces - Steph/Thor + Steph & Natasha & Sif**

**Natasha's POV**

"Nat, seriously, what the hell are we doing here?" Clint whispered.

"I told you I don't know," I replied.

"Look, you're good, Nat. The best in the business and you know I know pretty much everyone in the business. But if you don't know what you need to do or why you're even here, I don't think we're going to be able to do… whatever it is we need to do."

"How often has Thor asked you for a favor, Clint?"

"I don't think Thor has ever asked me for a favor, which is still true because Thor didn't ask me for a favor, you did. And you ask me for favors  _all_  the time."

"Well, if you can't ask your soulmate for a favor who can you ask?"

"I don't know. I just hope that you find your platonic soon- maybe they can help me carry the favor load a little. Especially if you're going to pile on favors that other people ask of you."

"Well, like you said, Thor has never asked me for a favor either. So if he's going to ask me one for the first time, I'm going to bring backup so that I don't screw it up. Need I remind you that he saved my life when Bruce hulked out and attacked me that one time?"

Clint sucked in a breath next to me, and I winced because I really hadn't meant to bring that up. Clint had gotten much better over two years after Loki had used mind control to get him to attack SHIELD, which had triggered said hulk out, but he still had held onto a bit of guilt over the issue. I hadn't meant to remind him of it, especially when I needed him focused. Relatively quickly though, he shook it off before saying, "okay. So we're here. Remind me again exactly what it was that Thor said."

"I don't remember the exact words he used because, I mean, come on he just needs to learn to speak like a normal Midgardian. Anyway, he said that Heimdall told him someone important would be here, at this time, and need help, but Thor might not be able to arrive in time to provide the necessary help. Then Heimdall told him I would be the best choice to offer assistance in his stead."

"And you brought me."

"For backup, yes, because I'm basically a knife. But what if it ends up being a gun fight? Might as well have the worlds' best sharpshooter watching my six."

"So you're just using me for my marksmanship?"

"And because you're so pretty?"

"There you go," he responded with a laugh dropping a kiss on my cheek.

"No mushiness in the field," I whined, but gave him a wink when he let me go. Normally I wouldn't mind if I knew what the mission was, but because I didn't know, I wanted every ounce of my brain cells available to take in everything around me.

"Do you think it's that guy? Oooh, or her?" Clint started, then just kept babbling.

"Seriously, aren't snipers supposed to be good at sitting quietly and waiting?"

"When no one is there, sure. But you're here…" he trailed off and we both watched the street in front of us. A somewhat small woman had confronted a large man who had just exited a building, clearly not noticing that he was high on something.

Clint and I started moving forward together in unison as the woman's voiced raised even higher as the man turned to walk away from her. "Hey, I said, I'm a Bond Enforcement Agent and I'm here to take you back to the station to get your court date rescheduled."

The woman had guts, I had to admit when the guy broke out into a run, she was right behind him. She pulled a taser out of her bag, aimed while on the run, and managed to hit him, but all it did was piss the guy off. He turned on her, pulled the taser off himself then ripped it out of her hands. I could hear Clint behind me as he slowed down to flip open his bow and his quiver start shifting to create whatever arrow type he'd programmed. At the same time I'd sped up and pulled out my garrote knowing that if this man was hopped up enough that the taser was ineffective, my bites might not fare much better.

Before either Clint or I could act though, the woman nailed him in the family jewels hard. It had to be hard to take him down the way it did. Without pausing, she rolled him over and started wrestling to get his arms behind his back and into her cuffs. I suppose if we hadn't been there and I hadn't had Flexicuffs to offer her, she probably would have been in trouble when the man snapped out of it and she still couldn't get her too-small cuffs on him. I slowly approached her so as to not seem like a threat then held out the plastic restraints.

When she looked up at me, her smile was so friendly that I couldn't help but return it with one of my own. "Heimdall was wrong," I told her, "you can take care of yourself."

"I don't know who you're talking about, but thanks for the assist anyway."

With a laugh and a comment about it being his lucky day, Clint stepped forward and took the man from her. The man started loudly complaining, but Clint whispered something to him that had him shutting up. Fast. The woman stood up and dusted herself off saying, "hi, my name's Steph, and I swear, I'm a legal BEA. I have my right to apprehend paperwork in my bag. I don't just run around tasing people and kicking them in the nuts for fun."

"Well, that's a shame, it is such a good time. It would be a fun bonding activity," I said. I stepped back and peeled off the top half of my uniform, leaving me in a sports bra and held out my arm to her, "assuming, of course, this is your writing."

She nodded her head and responded, "yep, that's mine." Then she held out her hand to me, so I could see my writing in her palm.

I nodded my head before taking her hand in mine to shake and saying, "I'm Natasha Romanoff," then gestured to the words written in black across my chest and tilted my head toward Clint, "that's Clint Barton my other half."

"Don't you mean better half?" Clint asked.

"Nope," I responded, winking at Steph when she laughed as I'd hoped she would. "So, what do you want us to do with this guy?"

"I'm Steph, by the way. Stephanie Plum. I've got to take this guy to the police department, but you can ride along if you want. If you could at the very least help me drag him into my car and shackle him into the back, I'd appreciate it." We walked in the direction Steph had indicated without further comment. After a few seconds she broke the silence, "so you've got a romantic soulmate too. That must be nice."

"You don't?" I asked, surprised because I'd only met a handful of people over the years who didn't. When she just shook her head a little sadly, I remembered something Thor had once told me and said, "well, cheer up. You know who we are, right?"

"Black Widow and Hawkeye?"

"That's right. And we tend to get mixed up in lots of crazy things and meet lots of people. Including people not from this world. My understanding is that those people don't always have the same soulmate system we do, so maybe you have a romantic soulmate and he or she just isn't from around here." Her nose wrinkled a little when I mentioned a possible female match, so I shrugged and said, "he then."

Actually, now that I thought about it, Thor had never met his romantic soulmate. Of course, being thousands of years old, he'd had romances. But he'd yet to meet his romantic soulmate. And Heimdall did say that I would be a good substitute if Thor couldn't get there, so maybe Heimdall knew more than he was telling. If that was true, I really hoped I got to be there when they met because that would be entertaining to watch.

The thought had barely entered my mind, when a storm started brewing overhead and everything got static-y. I turned to Clint and mouthed, "watch this," as one of Thor's Rainbow bridges opened up.

The light began to fade and Thor strode forward calling out, "Lady Natasha, is everything well? Am I too late to be of assistance?"

"Everything's fine Thor," I called out, trailing off when Steph started panicking and sliding along the ground toward Thor.

Steph's eyes were wide and she started screaming something about magnets and it looked like she was trying to run toward Clint and I.

"Calm down, Steph, it's fine!" I hollered and she stopped struggling against the invisible force to gape at me.

"What's going on?" Clint asked me in a hushed whisper.

"This is how soulmates work in Asgard. If they're platonic, they'll end up grasping arms, but if they're romantic… there we are!" I said, clapping my hands excitedly as Steph found herself full on plastered to Thor's chest. Thor had the biggest smile I'd ever seen on his face, and given the fact that he was basically a giant puppy, I'd seen a lot of his smiles.

"I had almost given up hope of ever finding you," Thor said softly to Steph, who looked flat out confused, and I couldn't say I blamed her for that given that she lacked any context for what was occurring.

"Not that this isn't nice," Steph said, as her arms were forcibly placed around his neck, and his arms came around her lower back, "but someone care to tell me what's going on?"

"You and I are what, I believe Lady Natasha informed me, Midgardians call 'romantic soulmates'. We have but to kiss and you'll be free to move again as you wish."

"That's adorable," Clint whispered as Thor leaned down and gave Steph a relatively chaste kiss. "Dude needs to work on his game though."

I reached over to smack his arm and say, "they did just meet."

Thor set Steph on her feet and held her hand as they walked toward us said, "are you well? I was told you were in danger, and I must confess I was most distraught to be unable to arrive here sooner on this day."

When they pulled to a stop in front of us, I said, "well, Thor, buddy. I figured out why Heimdall told you to send me. Steph there and I are platonic soulmates, so you should know that anytime you have to leave her alone here on Earth, I've got her back."

Thor let go of Stephanie long enough to pull me into a hug and solemnly say, "you have my gratitude. And with it I offer you protection as well as asylum on Asgard if ever you should find yourself in need of it."

He released me to exchange a warrior's greeting with Clint and make the same offer. Then he squared his shoulders and looked at the man Clint clearly had secured. Beginning to twirl Mjolnir in his hand, he boomed, "and who is this? Did you harm my mate?!" I snorted a laugh when I saw Steph behind Thor look him over from head to toe and mouth the word "mate" while looking utterly bewildered. Thor stepped forward threateningly and continued as the man cowered away, "Are there more of you? I have two fellow shield-warriors here, and Sif and the Warriors Three will be here momentarily. We will defend her!"

"Ease up there, Thor," Clint said, pulling the guy back, "Steph there is a bounty hunter, and she took this guy down all on her own. And look, not a scratch on her! I was just helping escort him back to her car so she could take him back to jail, but she got him like this all on her own."

Thor turned back to Stephanie and said, "it is well done, My Lady. Forgive me, I did not know the circumstances, only that someone important was at risk of being harmed."

"No problem," Steph said nervously, "I appreciate the backup. Though it definitely seems like overkill. So… your name is Thor? I'm Stephanie Plum, but you can call me Steph."

"Yes, I am Thor Odinson, although I have renounced my heirship to the throne and reside here on Midgard most of the time, I do occasionally get called to Asgard to assist my father, Odin, the King. That is where I was, and I would not have stayed away if I had been able to help or didn't believe that Lady Natasha would be more than capable of offering you assistance."

I could tell that Steph was trying to process all that information, so I stepped in and said, "perhaps this is a conversation best had somewhere less public."

"Yes, let us turn over My Lady's prisoner and then find somewhere we can talk," Thor responded, eyes still firmly locked with Steph.

Behind him the bright light slammed into the ground in the same place it had previously, and Thor let out a delighted laugh. When the light cleared, crouched on the ground were a woman that I recognized from SHIELD's files as Sif and the men behind her The Warriors Three- Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg. I noticed Steph start sliding again at the same moment I felt a pulling on my arm. As we slid together in unison, Steph's left arm out and my right, I laughed over my shoulder at Clint's worried look. When I came to a stop, my right arm was clasping Sif's right, and she and Steph were clasping left arms.

"Hi, Sif?" I asked slowly.

"Yes, I am Sif. If I'm not mistaken, you are Thor's shield-sister Natasha."

I raised a brow at that but inclined my head. "And who is our third sister of the soul? Am I correct that you two are also linked in this manner."

Steph nodded her head slowly before visibly shaking herself back into reality. "I'm Stephanie Plum, or just Steph for short. Yes, Natasha and I are also platonic soulmates. And we just discovered that Thor is my…" she looked over at him nervously, and he just nodded his head eagerly so she finished with an unsteady, "mates?"

Introductions complete, we were all able to drop arms, and Steph's announcement was met with cheers from all the newly arrived Asgardians. She was swept off her feet by the three men and passed around in hugs before finally being placed in Thor's arms. When she wiggled a little, he gently placed her on her feet making sure she was steady.

"How joyous this is! You must be a fine warrior yourself to be matched so with the two of the fiercest warriors I know in all of the Nine Realms, My Lady! First, we shall transport Lady Stephanie's prisoner wherever he needs to go. Then, let us feast for we have much to celebrate!" Thor proclaimed.

Steph looked at everyone around us and said, "you know what, we definitely don't all fit in my car. I'm just going to step off to the side here for a minute and call some of my… shield brothers?... to come help with the transportation. They'll take the prisoner off our hands and we can go feast. But I'm going to have to explain this when they get here, and they'll probably want to join in the celebration."

She started out her call quietly, but before too long was saying in a very loud, exasperated voice, "I swear to God, no one blew up my car! And it isn't on fire. Nor did it get flattened into a pancake. Look, just send some cars over and I'll explain when you arrive. If someone could take in my FTA and get the body receipt, that'd be great. Then if we could borrow enough transport for eight of us… Four of whom are quite large… to go to Shorty's." She hung up her phone and turned back to us, "they'll just be a moment."

"Why would anyone think your vehicle had exploded?" Sif asked with concern.

"Because that is usually why I call."

I punched out a message on my phone to Steve letting him know that our mission was a success, Thor was in town with company, and we'd be delayed in our return. I promised quite a story when we did. As our crew was gathering quite the audience, I was grateful when true to her word, some Black SUVs and a big black pickup came pulling up less than five minutes later.

I watched, face carefully blank and grateful for the cool temper apparently brought on by living to be thousands of years old. Thor and his fellow Asgardians merely observed studiously as Steph was greeted enthusiastically by the group of men, almost all of whom used some sort of familiar term of endearment for her rather than her name. She explained the situation to the men, and I watched as smiles grew on all of their faces, particularly when she mentioned Thor. We all listened as she gave them all a crash-course in what she'd been able to figure out of Asgardian terms and dynamics, and I was impressed by how much she was able to put together given how much of a shock to her system to find all of us at once- including a "mate" from another planet. Then she went around making introductions, and when she was finally done, she stood next to Thor and let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, Ba-" Ranger, who it turned out was indeed the leader, eyed Thor then apparently changed his mind and continued, "Steph. We'd love to celebrate with you now or another time, but I'm not sure Shorty's is the place for this. You've already drawn a lot of attention here, and I don't think that will change there."

"We could go to the Tower," I said slowly. "Thor, Clint and I all live there. I assume Sif and the Warriors Three will be staying there if they plan to stay for any length of time. If you can take care of Steph's skip and help us transport everyone there, it shouldn't be a problem to clear you through security."

Before anyone else could agree, Thor swung Mjolnir a few times, pulled Steph into his side, and took off flying into the air. There was an awkward pause before Clint said, "guess we're going to the Tower."

Everyone slowly started toward the gathered vehicles and I turned to Sif and gestured to where Thor had taken off with Steph saying, "Thor will let us play with her some too once he gets over the newness right?"

"We will just have to make him," she replied.

* * *

 **A/N the second:**  So, I did a double post today. Make sure you read both! Aforementioned double post is in honor of a few people. My awesome beta who has been helping me out when I reach stumbling blocks on these and returning them almost as fast as I can write them (if not faster)... and just is generally awesome! I also just couldn't hold this one back anymore from my crazy, Thor-loving, biggest cheerleader. You know who you are. And lastly, for Lynda and Amanda. May this deliver a Mjolnir-powered blow to your writers' block! Or you know, at least entertain you and make you happy if not.


	4. Undeniable Forces - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter for this storyline- based on a strong reaction yesterday, I've expanded this story so you can see just a little more. This is all you'll get of this storyline (at least in this series). Didn't take me long to break that one-shot rule, did it?

 

**Undeniable Forces - Part 2 (and final… for now…)**

_**Steph's POV** _

I let out a surprised gasp when Thor pulled me close and then sent us literally flying through the air, but trusting he had a good hold on me, I quickly relaxed and just enjoyed the experience. When Natasha had mentioned "the Tower", I'd assumed she meant Avengers Tower in Manhattan. So I was surprised when we landed smoothly atop one of the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge. The view was beautiful, and I took it in for a moment before turning to Thor.

I had a smile on my face, which he returned immediately. "I have wanted to fly pretty much my whole life. Thank you. That was amazing."

"You are most welcome, Lady Stephanie."

"Any chance I'm going to get you to just call me Stephanie? Or even better, Steph?"

He brought my hand up, kissed it, and said, "It is a learned form of address that I am aware is antiquated here on Midgard. I will endeavor even more vigorously to change my habit if it makes you more comfortable, Stephanie."

"I appreciate it. So, what are we doing here besides enjoying this spectacular view?"

"I wanted to speak with you on a matter before we reached our final destination, for I fear Lord Stark, Tony, will no doubt make reference to it and I don't wish you to be uncomfortable."

"Sure, no problem. What's up?"

"I have lived well over a thousand years, and as I said, I had almost given up hope that I would ever find my mate. As such, I have, over the past hundred years or so begun to allow myself to have romantic entanglements with women who were not you. One such woman, Jane, is acquainted with most of the team and I resided with her for several months not too long ago. Our relationship is over, and even had it not been, I would have ended it now that I found you. But I wanted to be the one to inform you of this."

This man was just too precious. I reached my hands up to cup his face, and said, "Thor, that's fine. I understand just as I hope you can understand that I didn't think there was anyone for me, so I had relationships as well. They're in the past as well, so let's just agree to leave them there."

"We are in agreement," Thor said gently. Together we walked to one of the ends of the tower that was over the water, rather than the road below, and carefully sat with our feet dangling over the end. It felt like one of those times that I really should have been uneasy, but really I knew Thor wouldn't let me fall. And even if I did, I was pretty sure he could fly down and catch me before I hit the water. While we sat there, Thor told me a little of his first trip to New York for the Battle of New York and his brother's involvement in the destruction. Then he told me of Tony's offer of a place to live, which he finally accepted with Dr. Jane Foster had found  _her_  romantic soulmate at a research convention and Thor had moved out of her flat in London. He'd had reservations about moving back to New York, but in the end had agreed to do so rather than go back to Asgard so as to be better able to protect Earth.

He very thoughtfully and methodically provided background information to me on each of his teammates- both Avenger and Asgardian. The information was enough to provide a background for me to utilize to avoid stepping in any emotional landmines, but left me enough gaps that I could get to know them in my own way and form my own opinions on each person. I was unaware of how much time had passed when Thor stood and helped me carefully to my feet and a few steps away from the edge. Then his arms wrapped around me and pulled me into him for our second kiss. Unlike our first when we found each other, this one was not so chaste.

When he pulled back, I blinked up at him for a couple seconds then blurted out, "I can't believe I get to keep you."

"It is I who should be in disbelief at my luck that the fates have chosen you for me," Thor replied with a laugh. "Shall we continue to our destination?"

"More flying? Yes, please!" I said, locking my arms around his neck and holding on tightly. Thankfully I was not at all surprised by the sensation when we took off this time. Just a few seconds later we were standing on a landing pad high up Avengers Tower. I must have whined because Thor promised to take me out flying anytime I asked. After we celebrated.

Holding tightly to his hand, I allowed Thor to lead me forward and through the doors into a plush lounge. I came to a stop when I found myself face to face with one Tony Stark standing in front of a group of other men who I also recognized from the news.

Stark eyed our joined hands and said, "so, what's going on, Point Break? Natasha promised us quite the story and said you'd taken off and would likely arrive before her. We've been waiting for like an hour. Natasha and Barton are almost back with your guests. Or more of your guests, it seems. Who is this? Remember, you're supposed to clear guests through Tower security first not bring them right in through the attic door! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you've decided to move on from Dr. Foster, but we don't know anything about this woman! She could be  _anyone_!"

There was a crack of thunder that sounded VERY close outside, and Stark took a step back. Immediately a more mild-mannered looking man stepped forward and offered me his hand. "I think what Tony meant to say is, 'Hello, and welcome to our home. Any friend of Thor's is a friend of ours and is, of course, welcome here as this is also Thor's home.' I'm Bruce Banner, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Taking his hand without a moment's hesitation despite recognizing the name associated with the Hulk's alter ego, I simply responded, "Thanks. My name is Stephanie Plum, and it is nice to meet you."

Quickly the remaining men, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and Sam Wilson, stepped forward and introduced themselves. Each greeted me politely and echoed Bruce's welcome. When they finished, Tony reluctantly did the same and apologized for his less than friendly first impression.

"My friends! You will not believe it!" Thor exclaimed and I could practically feel the joy radiating off of him. "Lady Stephanie is my mate! I have found her at last!"

Everyone kind of eyed him warily, and I could tell it was the use of the term mate, so I helpfully clarified that I was Thor's romantic soulmate. Given what Thor had told me of Bucky's past, I wasn't surprised or even offended when he asked if Thor had verified my handwriting. Clearing my throat I said, "not that you have any reason to believe me, but I'm pretty sure I would be the world's worst spy. At any rate, that actually isn't how Asgardians identify their soulmates, so neither of us have the other's words on us. It was more…" trailing off I took my two hands and put them one in front of my face and the other out to the side. Then I brought the latter over and smooshed it into the one in front of my face.

I could tell they didn't quite get it, but before I could elaborate Natasha spoke from behind me saying, "I had my uniform camera on, if JARVIS will pull it up, I'll show you."

Not going to lie, I absolutely jumped when I heard her voice. My hand flew up to my chest where I could feel my heart racing and I said, "holy hell. You're even better at that than Ranger! If you don't want a dead 'sister of the soul', you're going to not do that to me." I used Sif's phrase because I liked the way it sounded, and Natasha clarified what I meant to the team while I just showed them her words in my hand.

"Nonsense," Natasha said, "it would make  _much_  more sense for me to teach you how to be just as stealthy as me and to keep people from sneaking upon you."

I looked back and noticed that she wasn't alone but had everyone else with her, so I figured she (and Ranger) had a point and I probably really did need to be more aware of my surroundings. Sif was standing behind Natasha nodding, but she smiled kindly when I waved at her. Turning back to Natasha, I nodded in agreement, then sat forward again to see the screen that had lit up.

Much to my embarrassment, Natasha started the video at the moment I first approached my skip. Though, as far as my solo apprehensions went, it was actually one of my better ones, so I let that soothe my ego a little. After all, I was far less skilled than all of them. I stifled a laugh when the men all flinched when I landed my kick on the skip and sent him crumpling to the ground. I wasn't able to restrain it when Natasha made her comment about bonding and they all curled in on themselves at least a little protectively.

Once the video had finished playing, all eyes were back on me and I waited to see how everyone was going to react. It was Sam who broke the silence first saying, "I for one do not volunteer to assist you in your girl bonding time. That really seems like a job for the super soldiers. You guys can take that right?"

"Hell no, I'm not signing up for that," responded Bucky. "Did you see how hard she kicked that guy? And you know Natasha's only going to improve on that given the opportunity."

Everyone nodded in agreement at that, and Steve said, "so, you're a bounty hunter?"

"Bond enforcement agent, yes. It's just that more people are familiar with the term bounty hunter, so that's usually easier to say that. I work for my cousin's bail bonds company and have a legal right to apprehend on his behalf when someone skips bail and misses a court date. I like to try to give them the option of going in on their own politely, but they don't always take me up on that."

Bucky snorted out a laugh and then said, "no offense, but what kind of training do you have? Because although effective, that definitely wasn't good technique  _or_  strategy." He pointed at the screen as he said it.

I could be offended, but these were Thor's teammates, and they were professionals so it wasn't worth it and was probably a legitimate concern. "Uh, not really any? More like on-the-job training. I didn't have a job and was out of money, so I blackmailed my cousin into making me a bounty hunter. It's scary as hell sometimes, but overall, I mostly like it."

Sam let out a low whistle, "that's a hell of a job to learn as you go."

I shrugged. Clearly sensing my discomfort over the conversation, Sif stepped in and said, "let us not dwell on business at a time such as this. I believe Eye of Hawk has procured some sustenance for us all. Let us celebrate the discovery of Thor and Steph's bond, as well as my own bond with my soul sisters!"

As we walked over to and down a set of stairs, I stayed firmly tucked into Thor's side, amused when Natasha and Sif began eagerly negotiating with Thor for some of my time.


	5. Get Out of That Car! - Steph/Tony

**Get Out of That Car!**

_**Tony's POV** _

I spent every day of my life since they had appeared trying to hide my words. Almost any time someone saw them, they made fun of me. There I was, a billionaire, who could have and buy anything in the world I wanted, and it seemed that my soulmate was a car thief. One who was going to carjack me when we met.

And every time I went out driving myself in one of my cars, Pepper and Happy made a point of poking fun at me by reminding me not to get the car stolen. I was Iron Man and  _always_  had a suit with me; I was pretty sure I could handle one carjacker.

Pepper and I had a good run before she met her soulmate- my longest relationship to date. Obviously I hadn't held it against her when she'd left me for her soulmate. Nor had I accepted the resignation she'd offered. I'd simply helped her move into her own apartment in the tower, told her she could have her soulmate move in whenever she liked, and accepted my new position in her life of best friend.

Watching Pepper find her soulmate though made me eager, for the first time in my life, to find mine. So I'd admit it, I was definitely pushing the issue by driving myself around more and more frequently to my meetings without Happy there for backup. After all, that seemed to be the likely setup for when I would finally meet this woman.

And if the universe was sure that we were meant to be together, then I assumed she had a really good reason for wanting to steal my car. One that I would, I assumed, allow me to be able to forgive her in time.

Still, I hadn't been expecting this day to be the day. True, I was going to Trenton, New Jersey which had a plenty high crime rate, especially in the neighborhood I was going. But it was going to be a mostly abandoned area around a factory I had recently acquired through a subsidiary purchase. I wanted to take a look at it, see what kind of shape it was in, what was around it, and evaluate its value to the company.

It was possible it would be able to be converted into a factory for some new residential arc-reactor inspired tech. There were a lot of things that I was hoping to begin getting into homes soon. Just one step toward helping deal with Global Warming and hopefully make a realistic push for sustainable energy that everyone could afford to use. Hell if I was going to repeatedly save human kind only to watch us destroy ourselves.

I'd also considered the possibility of making it a personal R&D space. Of course, I'd need to beef up security, but I was more than able to do so myself and my research had shown a very promising company in the area I could hire to fill in with a local security presence for it.

Or if I didn't like it, we would put it on the market. It would probably take a while to sell, but that didn't matter. Wasn't going to make or break the year's finances for Stark Industries either way. Still, when I pulled up to the building, I was expecting the area to be completely empty and it was. For about 15 seconds. Then it turned into some sort of battle zone.

A woman came flying out of a narrow alleyway next to where I parked in a piece of shit jeep, and I could hear gunshots and explosions following her. She took the turn too fast and ended up crashing into a power pole in front of me. When she tried to start her car, it wouldn't go. I noticed her looking at something in the back seat then at the alley from which she'd come. A look of resignation crossed her face as she she jumped out of her car and ran toward mine.

"JARVIS, I'm going to be needing that suit ASAP." I could hear things start whirring and barely registered his response. Just as I was getting ready to get out of the car so that JARVIS could put the suit on, she started banging on the window and yelled, "Get out of that car! NOW!"

Huh, I could honestly say that wasn't what I was expecting. When I stepped out of the car, she grabbed onto me and started running away from where the explosions were getting closer and said, "I'm really sorry about your car." Pulling against her, I looked back and saw that her car was full out on fire and watched in horror as that fire reached my car. As I stopped, JARVIS took advantage of my holding still long enough to start snapping suit pieces around me. No sooner had the mask flipped on than JARVIS's voice said, "probability of explosion is 100% and estimated time is 2 seconds."

Turning back to the woman, now fully in my gear, I grabbed a hold of her and took off with her in my arms to the roof of my new warehouse. Carefully setting her on her feet, I walked over to the edge of the building and looked over it, trying to determine if there was still an ongoing threat to my soulmate. Seeing nothing immediate, I strode back over to her, wanting to assess her for injuries. She was sitting on the ground with her head between her legs, hyperventilating and repeating to herself over and over again, "oh my god. I blew up Iron Man's car. I can't believe I blew up Iron Man's car. There is no way I can afford to replace that. He's going to kill me. Iron Man is going to kill me because I blew up his car."

I crouched down in front of her and I reached up an armored hand and tilted her chin up so she could look at me.

"Hey, don't worry about the car, I can afford another. And, I'd definitely prefer if you called me by my actual name."

I slid my face-plate back when her head went back between her knees and she started hyperventilating again. I spoke to her softly until she finally lifted her head again and said, "those are my words," then she shakily got to her feet, smiling and accepting when I offered my hand to help her. Reaching down, she pulled up her pants leg, and I could see my messy scrawl running haphazardly along her calf.

"That's my writing," I confirmed before JARVIS completely on his own pulled back the armor on the inside of my arm so I could show her my words.

She wordlessly nodded her head and looked at me with wide eyes, "I thought you and Pepper Potts?"

"Ah, no. She found her soulmate recently, and she's firmly out of the picture. I was just killing time waiting for you. Tony Stark." I held my hand out to her, and when she took it, I brought it to my lips to kiss it.

"I'm Stephanie Plum, you can call me Steph. And I really am very sorry about your car."

"Considering I spent my whole life thinking you were going to try to steal my car, blowing it up is really a relief."

After looking startled for a minute, then taking in the words again, Steph tilted her head back and let out a laugh so filled with joy that it warmed my war-weary heart. "Sorry to have worried you like that. I've only stolen a car once, and he totally deserved it in the long run."

Yep, this soulmate of mine was going to keep me on my toes, and I had to admit, I was definitely looking forward to it.


	6. Uniforms - Steph/Steve

**Uniforms**

_**Steve's POV** _

This was something you didn't see in Central Park every day. And I would know, as I'd been coming here as part of my daily 20 mile run any day I was not on a mission (or in the hospital) for the past several months. At 5:30am every day, I would finish my run and stop in this spot next to the main lake, stretch, and enjoy the relative quiet as I mentally prepared myself for whatever the day would bring.

Today it wasn't as quiet as it usually was though. When I'd first heard the woman's screams, I'd immediately gone on alert- sure that I was going to need to step in and save some clueless tourist from a mugger or possibly an even worse situation. Thankfully I'd quickly realized that her screams were interspersed with laughter. Pulling up from the run I'd started into, I leaned against a tree and watched in fascination a group of men, all dressed from head to toe in black, and one woman with curly brown hair

Although they seemed to be having fun, they were all armed, so I decided to stick around and have JARVIS run some facial recognition for me. It took a while to get a clear picture of any of them with as much as they were moving around. Not two minutes after I sent in the picture, JARVIS had a match and Natasha, or Black Widow as she was more commonly known, materialized out of nowhere next to me in her uniform. She had my shield and handed it off to me with a shrug.

"I was on my way as soon as you alerted JARVIS to armed men in Central Park and asked him to stand by for photos for facial recognition. I got his alert too, but since I was already here, I figured I'd see what had your panties in a twist," Natasha whispered.

I rolled my eyes before turning back to the group in front of me. My eyes were continually drawn to the woman in the crowd, and I wasn't really sure why. It was probably her laughter or the way she just exuded happiness.

"She's pretty," commented Natasha.

I just shrugged but didn't say anything, continuing to watch; it seemed to be a game they were all used to playing. The man I'd managed to get a picture of seemed to be sitting out and evaluating what was going on.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso, but he prefers to go by Ranger. He's C.E.O. of Rangeman LLC, a Private Security Company. They moved into town a couple months ago and are pretty quickly making a name for themselves in the city both for their security work and their bounty hunting. Rumor has it that they have a relentless female bounty hunter who works for them. Does distraction work, which is exactly what it sounds like, and takes on the smaller bond cases. Bossman is training her. Exact relationship unknown, but neither has a soulmate on record anywhere that JARVIS can find..."

"Interesting," I responded, not bothering to mention that I'd already read all of that information from JARVIS right before she arrived.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum," Natasha finished, holding out a picture of the beautiful brunette in front of me.

As I watched, I figured out the game they were playing. The men were trying to get pokes in with what looked like sharpie markers on her white shirt, and the woman was trying to dodge them. Her technique... Wasn't awful for a civilian, but it definitely needed a lot of work.

"Look at her, she's trying to be light in her feet, but she's coming to a rest flat-footed. How is it she knows the game they're playing, but doesn't seem to ever really be ready for an attack?"

"I don't know, but it kind of makes me want to hug her. Then teach her to fight because that's just embarrassing right there," I said watching as she got faked out and then pinned to the ground.

The men all piled on and her shrieking laughter got more intense. I approached, noticing the Ranger character tense up before he took in my shield and relaxed again after giving me a brief salute. I mentally grimaced, but outwardly just gave him a look or gratitude as I continued forward, ever aware of Natasha at my back.

"Hal- don't you dare!"

The man in question was drawing what appeared to be a very large bomb with a lit fuse on her arm, and I found myself instantly curious as to why he would choose that particular thing to draw. As her wriggling increased in intensity, the men just held her down more firmly and others contributed to the effort.

Another man drew what appeared to be a car that was on fire, and when she noticed that, she let out a very forceful, "Lester Santos- this means war!"

I couldn't help myself anymore, I spoke to her saying, "You know, I've always said, 'If you're going to fight a war, you got to wear a uniform.'" For some reason everyone went completely still and absolutely quiet. This time when the woman tried to get up, the men released her, so I reached a hand down to help her get to standing. Her eyes took in my shield, and I saw recognition for a moment before she dismissed it and turned to me nervously.

"No offense, but I've seen what you tend to call a uniform and it's a little too Crazytown Bananapants to me!"

I felt my eyes widen for a split second before I doubled over in laughter. This woman was gorgeous and from everything I'd seen so far this morning, she was just full of fire. So of course she's be the type of person to say that to me!

Natasha was smiling widely and stepped forward shaking Steph's hand, "hi, I'm Natasha Romanoff, or you might know me as Black Widow, and I just won a ton of money off Tony Stark because you're a woman and, unless I'm mistaken, in your thirties. I'm going to use some of it to buy you something pretty," she finished giving me a wink.

"Don't even try to bribe her, she's my soulmate, Nat. That's like the universe's guarantee that she'll always be on my side."

"We'll see," Nat responded before giving me a shove forward, "come on, aren't you going to introduce yourself to your soulmate?"

I blushed a little bit before I could say anything, I found myself wrapped up in the arms of the little brunette as she smiled up at me before pulling me down to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, I'm Stephanie Plum!"

"I'm Steve Rogers, and it is a pleasure to meet you. Please tell me that I can teach you how to fight?"

The man I recognized as Ranger snorted and said, "good luck."

Looking up, I looked him dead in the eye and said, "looks like I already have that, and I don't think I'll be needing any more."


	7. If This is the Robot Apocalypse - Steph & JARVIS

**Chapter 8 - If This is the Robot Apocalypse... - Steph & JARVIS - Platonic**

_**JARVIS's POV** _

When Sir had created me, nothing unusual had happened. However, on the fourth upgrade to my artificial intelligence programming, an etching had appeared on the casing of the lone grey server in the banks- the server that contained my empathy module. It was an odd phenomenon of which neither was sure the significance, though Sir sometimes like to joke that it resembled a soulmark. Although it was a joke, it did seem to fit into Sir's strange sense of humor when he had been setting up the server farm in the first place. At the time, he'd claimed that choosing a grey casing for the empathy center might prevent me from trying to overthrow the human race as grey as that was the color of platonic soulmates.

When the etching had occurred, I'd noticed, of course, and drawn Sir's attention to it. We'd debated replacing the casing, but in the end, Sir had found the words hilarious and left them in place. Over time, I think Sir forgot about the words. After all, he had much more going on in his life these days, with his team of Avengers living in the tower and his wedding to Miss Potts approaching. Still, as a computer, I really couldn't forget. If my processors were occupied with an all-consuming project, it got relegated to the background, but the information was always there.

Which is why, in addition to the standard security checks I ran using facial recognition software on each person who entered the Tower, I also check handwriting samples. It wasn't something Sir had programmed into me, per se, though he had allowed me leeway to evolve, particularly where things like security checks and pattern detection were concerned. And it had never been relevant, so I'd never mention it.

Miss Romanoff had asked me about it when she'd begun reading through some of the security checks on a regular basis. Thankfully I'd already had a justification prepared and simply reminded her that SHIELD, before its collapse, had perfected many methods of allowing agents to pose as other people. Technologies such as their photostatic veil allowed for the imitation of both the face and the voice, but did not provide for the mimicry of movements. And handwriting was a movement so ingrained in each individuals being, and rarely thought of as part of a cover. If I kept handwriting samples, then I could hopefully catch a significant change if an enemy were to attempt to infiltrate the Tower through Stark Industries. Although I sensed that she suspected more behind my actions, Miss Romanoff had agreed that it was a good security protocol and left it at that.

There were no cases of humans being paired with machines, but as it appeared that humans could be paired with non-humans such as Thor, I calculated the odds of me being matched with someone as unlikely, but they were non-zero. So, when I had idle computing power, I searched for her and studied the behavioral patterns of females- particularly in relationships with their "best friends". After all, statistical analysis strongly suggested that if the etching were to match the handwriting and words of an actual person, that person would be female. It seemed that among other things, secret telling and trust were important, so, as Sir hadn't seen fit to create soulmate protocols for me, I had begun drafting my own.  _If_  I did end up having a platonic soulmate, I would protect her, both emotionally and physically, at all costs.

_**Steph's POV** _

Since I had joined onto Rangeman full-time I still got to do some distractions, fieldwork, and surveillance. But more often than not, I spent my time doing things that Ranger or one of the members of his Core Team felt were best done by a less intimidating presence. Often that meant things like being the primary contact for cases where the lead client was a female who was wary of the intimidating presence of the Merry Men. It also frequently seemed to involve working with children. I was pretty sure that was because children were often intimidated by the big hulking men as well, but also because a lot of the  _men_  were intimidated by small children.

Today, however, it involved making a trip into Manhattan and to Avengers Tower. Hector, over the course of doing the whatever the things are that Hector does with computers, had discovered a weakness in the Tower's cyber-security. Which was, apparently, fairly unheard of in the world of computer hacking. He had brought it to Ranger's attention- probably after some poking around that I'm sure I did  _not_  want to know about.

I had been sitting in on the meeting where he had confessed to what he had done, and let me tell you, the shock in the room had lasted several minutes. Then there had been a heated debate about what to do with the information.

Some had been in favor of just not doing anything. Hector was good, better than most.  _Probably_  no one else would find the exploit, and then we wouldn't run the risk of pissing off the Avengers. These people had been overridden by those with too much patriotic conscious to leave the Avengers vulnerable.

So at that point the discussion had drifted to how best to bring up the issue. Hector could try to set up a bunch of secure relays, use an air-gap computer on its first connection to the internet from a public network, and otherwise try to make the message untraceable. But even Hector didn't really think that was likely to work. Ranger felt he could get a meeting set up for one person using his connections, and deemed that a worthy investment of favors owed, as he would likely wind up with a favor owed by the Avengers or Tony Stark himself.

When they asked who to send, I had though Hector was the obvious choice as, language issues aside, he would obviously understand the details of the vulnerability. And probably the Avengers had someone who could translate Spanish. Everyone else thought I was the best choice. I'd fought them tooth and nail because I didn't know about computers, and if the Avengers were likely to react negatively, I didn't think I should die because Hector was whatever the computer equivalent was of a nosey gossip. My argument had not been deemed appropriate, and they decided I was the least likely to get killed or tortured for more information. To soothe my sense of impending doom, I'd lifted the keys to the Turbo and taken that with me. Sure, Ranger probably noticed me doing so, but he didn't object, so I'd figured that was consent enough.

Unfortunately the side effect of taking the Turbo was that I'd reached Manhattan in record time, so there went the possibility of just missing the meeting altogether. I'd checked in at the front desk, been given a security screening that left me feeling even more violated than TSA when they were on their highest security level and didn't like something I'd said. Then I'd been told to get into an elevator, only to discover there were no buttons inside. That hadn't kept the doors from closing and the elevator car from beginning to rise.

I was chewing on a nail, nervous as all hell, and still looking frantically for a button to push when I British man's voice spoke, "no need for concern, I know where you need to go and I am taking you there."

Sooooo… the elevator was sentient? That couldn't be a good thing. Also, I had those words written on me, or rather typed on me, in grey font. I'd always assumed it was going to mean that I was paired with someone who couldn't write but had some kind of speech recognition software they used to type messages. Instead it seemed my platonic soulmate was an elevator or maybe some sort of computer? But that was insane because that would mean that the computer had a soul, and I was pretty sure that had to be a sign of the apocalypse…

Unable to keep my mouth shut any longer, I responded, "If this is the robot apocalypse, does that mean we're on the same side, and I'm going to be allowed to live?"

The elevator jerked to a stop, and the lighting changed to tones that I assumed were supposed to be soothing before the voice responded again, "if by robot, you're implying something with an actual physical body, I regret to inform you that I am not one. I am JARVIS, which stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. For lack of a better term, I am Mr. Stark's Artificial Intelligence system. I run this Tower, as well as Mr. Stark's other properties, and provide him assistance when he is engaged in battle as Iron Man."

"Alright, buddy, can you see me?"

"Yes, Miss Plum."

"Okay, well, does this mean anything to you?" I rolled up my sleeve so that he could read the words running the outside of my upper arm.

"Those appear to be the first words I said to you, in grey, and match the custom monospace font Sir and I created for my interface. I have located a sample of your writing and it appears to match the etchings on one of my server cases." A screen lit up on one wall of the elevator, and I could see what appeared to be my first words to him in my own handwriting. I nodded wordlessly, so JARVIS continued, "Although there are no other recorded cases of such a pairing, the only logical conclusion is that you and I are platonic soulmates."

"So, as if I wasn't terrified enough about this meeting, I now have to inform Tony Stark that his computer and I are platonic soulmates? Something tells me he won't take that very well."

"You're nervous."

"Yes, very. I kind of want to throw up right now, but I wouldn't want to offend you, Buddy."

The image on the screen went blank and after a moment JARVIS said, "I've heard that a good technique to make someone less intimidating is to humanize them, especially with the Avengers as most seem to find them formidable to meet. Perhaps this video of Sir and Dr. Banner will make you feel more comfortable meeting them."

The screen turned back on, and it was what appeared to be a security feed of the very elevator car I was standing in. The car was empty, but Tony Stark and another man, presumably Dr. Banner, stepped in.

"JARVIS, play something to get our juices flowing!"

Immediately music started and I had to clap my hand over my face to keep in the giggle as I recognized Taylor Swift coming out of the speakers. Both men were kind of bouncing along during the intro, but as soon as Taylor Swift started singing, they began very enthusiastically mouthing the words and dancing along to "Shake it Off". I managed to hold in the laughs for about ten seconds, and then I was laughing hysterically. They knew the words WAY TOO WELL and seemed to even have some kind of previously agreed upon breakdown of who would be "singing" when and a set of dance moves. At the end of the song, the elevator doors opened and the two danced their way out of the car.

Silence reigned once again when I finally pulled myself together. I was wiping the tears off that were streaming down my face. Finally I gasped out a, "Thanks, JARVIS. Seriously, you're the best. I am so lucky!"

"You are very welcome, Miss Plum. I look forward to our continued acquaintance."

"Friendship," I corrected.

"Yes, friendship."


	8. Robot Apocalypse - Part 2 - Bucky/Steph/Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is out of order from my original posting on FF.net so that it can be next to Part 1.

**Robot Apocalypse - Part 2**

_**Steph's POV** _

Taking a deep breath, and somewhat fortified by JARVIS's omnipresence, I stepped off the elevator. JARVIS was right, I did feel slightly less intimidated now. As I walked down the only corridor in front of me, I noticed the lights along the floor changing to a cool blue to guide me on my way. They stopped, however, as we approached an assistant's desk, and I was waved into the conference room off to one side.

"You're not Ranger Manoso."

The words greeted me the second I walked in and immediately drew my attention to where a thin redhead was sitting, and I smiled at her apologetically, "no, I'm not."

"I was told that this meeting had been requested by Ranger Manoso, CEO of Rangeman Security," she said somewhat cooly.

"I'm Stephanie Plum, and I work for Ranger Manoso. I'm terribly sorry if there's been a misunderstanding. Ranger asked me to come handle this meeting."

I had reached my hand out to shake her hand, and just as she took it, I heard a gasp from across the table from me. Looking over, I saw Tony Stark with wide eyes staring at my arm. Crap. I'd forgotten to roll my sleeve back down after showing JARVIS in the elevator. He came running around the table and grabbed my arm, inspecting the words carefully. Finally he dropped my arm grabbing me up into a hug and dancing around with me in his arms.

"Yes! I am a  _god_! Take that, Thor!"

The woman's lips twitched as she watched Tony who had progressed to celebratory dancing, and finally she said, "I'm Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Care to let me in on the secret here?"

"I, uh, met my platonic soulmate on my way up here. It's JARVIS?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"I'm telling you, it is just still so odd to me. No offense, JARVIS."

"None taken, Miss Plum. For the record Sir, Miss Potts, I have verified Miss Plum's handwriting through background checks and received numerous complete matches. I am confident that she is not somehow faking this situation."

Finally coming back to himself, Tony shook my hand and introduced himself before walking me back out to the elevator. Miss Potts followed us, and once we were inside, Tony said, "Robot apocalypse?"

"Well," I defended, "no one told me there was an AI. I just got in an elevator as instructed, found there weren't any buttons, and it started moving and telling me it knew where I was supposed to go. So I panicked a little. Where are we going, by the way? I really do actually need to have this meeting."

"To celebrate my genius!"

"You might want to hold off on that, or at least including me, until I tell you what I came here to tell you. Give me five minutes, and you'll probably want to, at the very least, torture me."

"Oh nonsense, whatever it is can't be that bad!"

We stepped off the elevator into a giant open floor. It was broken into several different functional areas just by groupings of furniture, and had an open kitchen off to one side. There were various sitting areas, a pool table and games area, a dining area, and the bar, which is where Tony was eagerly headed. I didn't see anyone else, so I wondered if this was some kind of party space that wasn't in use.

"It was a long drive," I whispered to Miss Potts, who was still eyeing me warily. "Could I use a restroom?"

I walked over to the room she indicated next to the elevator and quickly did my business. I admit I had a moments hesitation, but figured JARVIS would know better than to watch  _that_. As I exited the room, I was trying to give myself a mental peptalk and not paying attention in the least to what was going on. Which is the only explanation I can think of for why I just flat out ran into one of the group who was getting off the elevator.

It was like running into a brick wall, and I probably would have then proceeded to fall onto the floor if I hadn't been caught from behind.

"Careful there," the voice behind me said, and I stiffened, instantly on alert.

Looking up at the man I'd run into, I apparently lost control,  _again_ , of my filter because I blurted out, "holy hell, you're like way taller, handsomer, and harder than a man should be. And too perfect."

At the strangled noise behind me, I turned to look at my rescuer and said, "so are you for that matter." His eyes widened as he looked down at me, and when he didn't say anything, I turned back to the first man.

He had a similar look on his face and said, "I'm so glad you said his words too, Doll."

I relaxed infinitesimally because if both my romantic soulmates knew each other, that would probably make things easier.

"Steve Rogers," he said holding out his hand and shaking mine warmly. "That's Bucky Barnes. We're each other's platonic matches, but we'd long suspected that our romantic matches might be the same person."

Bucky stepped forward as I held out my hand and squeaked out, "I'm Steph."

Instead of shaking my hand though, his eyes met mine as he brought it to his lips and gave it a kiss. Then he held onto it and tucked it into his arm and started walking me toward where the rest of the group had gone while giving us our space. Steve fell into step on my other side as Bucky asked, "so what are you doing here? Not that we mind, of course."

"I'm trying to have a meeting with Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts, but Mr. Stark is a little preoccupied-"

"No seriously, I'm a god! A  _creator_!" Tony was shouting as we made it to the larger group. "There she is, my proof! Steph, come here, you gotta show them."

He walked over and pulled me away from Bucky then unceremoniously shoved up my sleeve and displayed my words that matched me with JARVIS for all to see. "She's JARVIS's platonic soulmate! I  _created_  an AI so real that he has a soulmate!"

"Huh," Said a man with wavy dark hair who was glasses and neatly dressed. "Well, I don't know about that being enough to qualify you as a god, but it is pretty impressive."

"Sir," JARVIS stated, "I understand your excitement, but Miss Plum has just found out that the Captain and Mr. Barnes are her romantic soulmates. Please do not pull her away from them again like that without permission."

There was silence, and Steve stepped forward and pulled me back to him and Bucky. This time Steve threw his arm over my shoulders and Bucky's arm went around my waist. Just being in contact with them again made me sigh with relief.

Tony pouted, "JARVIS, did you just scold me! And take  _her_  side?"

"Yes, and it probably won't be the last time, knowing you as I do. And Miss Plum has a name."

"Hey, JARVIS, my good friends call me Steph."

"Of course, Steph, my apologies. I have corrected my Soulmate Protocols accordingly."

"You don't have any such thing," Tony argued.

"When you didn't seem to take the etching on my server seriously or make provisions for the possibility, I took the liberty of creating them myself, Sir." JARVIS responded.

"Thanks for thinking of me, JARVIS," I said, "Now Tony, stop pouting. Let me have my meeting and I'm sure you'll have grounds to kick me out of this and every Stark Industries property and you'll never have to worry about JARVIS picking me over you again."

With a sigh Tony sat down at the bar, put his chin in his hands, and tapped it with his fingers. "Fine. Let's hear it. What could you possibly have to tell me that is so bad."

I'd stepped away from Bucky and Steve, and everyone in the room was eyeing me with varying degrees of suspicion. "Here?" Tony just made an exaggerated hand gesture that I assumed meant I should continue. I looked around the room again, figured out who everyone was and winced. This was so bad.

"Right, well as you probably figured out since Ranger set up our meeting, I work for Rangeman Security. It's primarily a corporate and residential security company based in Trenton, New Jersey with a few additional satellite offices in other cities. Anyway, our head of technology discovered a weakness in your cyber-security. He was able to exploit it and gain access to secure files on your servers, so I was sent to let you know and provide you with the information necessary to patch the vulnerability."

So saying I reached a hand in my bag, and a lot of things happened at once. Two wary spies pulled guns, which caused two large, angry soulmates of mine to pull me behind them and square off with their teammates. At the same time, the lights went out in the room and there was a weird noise followed by four clunking sounds. When the lights game back on, both spies were unarmed and looking at where their guns were in the fireplace being incinerated by what looked like not your average fire.

Cautiously and slowly I pulled my hands back out of my bag and instead slid it off my shoulder and across the floor to the Black Widow. "I was just getting the reports. One is in Spanish because that's Hector's native language, but he did include an attempted translation. If any of you speak Spanish, you'll get more detail from that one. There is also a thumb drive with the codes he used on it. Security already searched the bag and me, but you can do so as well if you'd like. I'm not armed." Then to myself I muttered, "I left my guns locked in the car, I'm not an idiot."

When both Steve and Bucky whipped their heads around to look at me, I realized they could hear me so I offered them a small smile. "Let me guess, super hearing?"

"That's right, Doll." Bucky said slowly, "want to tell us why you would have guns, in the plural, that you left in your car."

"I'm a bounty hunter for Rangeman when I'm in the field rather than doing things like this, so I'm required to carry per the terms of my employment. And I still take freelance cases on the side sometimes as well. Plus, I draw stalkers and murderous whack jobs to me like you wouldn't believe. There are actually two right now…" Both men looked rather furious at the information, and I shrugged my shoulders, "if you don't like that, you're going to hate at least half my stories and probably run screaming for the hills."

Bucky scoffed as he pulled me into his side, and I noticed both he and Steve relax knowing Bucky had me wrapped up safely in his arms. "I doubt that. Goodness knows we have more than enough stories of our own, but you are going to tell us about these stalkers, and we are going to make sure they don't cause you any problems ever again."

Hmmm, with two super soldier soulmates and an AI platonic, maybe they'd be able to squish the crazies like bugs faster than they popped up. And maybe they'd be able to stop my cars from blowing up so regularly. The strangled noises they both made told me I hadn't kept that all to myself, and I just patted Steve's shoulder reassuringly because I had a feeling that all of our lives were about to get much more wild.


	9. Chicks Before Dicks - Steph/Sam

**Chicks Before Dicks - Steph/Sam**

_**Sam's POV** _

After helping Captain America out when he needed it, my life had gone a little bit crazy. Unfortunately, it was impossible to eliminate all of HYDRA in one fell swoop just by crashing their helicarriers. Which meant HYDRA was still out there and by helping Steve, and inadvertently setting The Winter Soldier free in the process, I'd put myself on their hit list. I was pretty sure I was number 4 on it. Right below Bucky, Steve, then Natasha. Especially since I'd then continued to help Steve try to track Bucky down.

Steve had seemed so surprised when I agreed to help him standing by Fury's grave when Natasha all but told us it was going to be dangerous as hell to go after Bucky. As I'd continually told him, the grey "on your left" that was written on my left quadricep pretty much guaranteed I'd help him whenever he needed it. Just the way I was sure his matching "uh huh, on my left, got it" would ensure that he would help me if I was ever in a pinch. It wasn't like I'd found my romantic soulmate yet and had her pulling me in another direction, so the choice had been easy. And Steve had found his soulmate, Bucky, who he thought had died and I would do everything I could to help them reunite.

We'd gone on the hunt for six long months, bouncing from country to country until my body no longer even understood the concept of a time zone, before when the owner of the shop where we were following up on our last lead handed us a note. The writing still, after all those years, matched the black writing on Steve's chest, and it told us to go home. Bucky would find Steve soon, but he had to take care of one more thing first. Still Steve had been adamant about staying in Trenton just in case, so we'd stayed.

Four nights in, we'd been out at dinner and Natasha had just materialized next to us. It was something she'd pulled enough times over our travels that it no longer phased Steve or I. We just pulled up a chair and snagged a copy of the menu to hand to her. Natasha had placed her order and we'd taken our time eating, catching up with her and her quest to create how ever many new cover identities for herself that it would take for her to once again felt safe.

"So, what brings us to Trenton?" Natasha finally asked once she'd plowed through a Cap-worthy amount of food.

"Well, I can't speak for you," I answered playfully, "but Captain Running Man here and I finally tracked down Bucky. He left us a note telling us to go home because he needed to check on something before he found us, but apparently we're not listening. So we're just hanging out in Trenton. In case he needs backup or causes a scene, I guess."

Steve opened his mouth to offer a retort when the rumble of an explosion shook the block. We all looked at each other, Natasha just giving me a glare that told me she was blaming this one on me. Then we stood, throwing more than enough money to cover the bill on the table and ran outside.

Just a few buildings down the street was what appeared to be an apartment building on fire. Most of the gawkers were just standing around… well, gawking… but one woman was running back and forth between the parking lot and the building ferrying elderly tenants out. Without a word, all three of us started forward to do the same. When we stepped inside the building, I was shocked to see Bucky there, carrying people down the stairs where he would hand them off to Steph to guide out of the building.

Steve's jaw tightened up, but he just got to work next to Bucky. I went up the stairs past them and started going door to door making sure no one was left behind. Natasha stayed in the lobby helping the woman. After we finally got the last person out, we looked around to find that Bucky had vanished. The rest of us stood wordlessly against the wall of the apartment building next door and watched the fireman for a couple minutes.

Before any of us got around to breaking the silence, the cops came over, and it seemed the woman (who I heard them refer to as Steph) was a friend of theirs. We listened as she gave her statement about pissed off Mafiosos who couldn't read street numbers properly. When she ran out of steam she turned to one of the cops and said, "Eddie, these guys helped me with the evacuation. Do you mind if I take them over to my apartment so they can clean up? We can all come in and give statements after." We all nodded eagerly, and after some back-and-forth, the cops finally agreed.

When we got to the third floor apartment, it was clear that the woman, Steph, really didn't have much, but was still generously opening her home to us. She stepped into her bathroom and took what was too short to even be considered a shower. A moment later, Steph was stepping back out of her room. Her arms were full of clean towels and clothes. The first batch she handed to Natasha, and when she caught me pouting, her beautiful blue eyes turned to me and said, "sorry man, chicks before dicks."

The smirk on Natasha's face as she sashayed toward the bathroom made it clear that she was definitely taking the next shower, but also that she knew the meaning of those words. I gaped at Steph for a moment before stammering back, "oh yeah, well, where do soulmates land in the pecking order?"

Her eyes widened, and I saw Steve's wide grin out of the corner of my eye as she pulled up her shirt just high enough that we could see my words across her abdomen. I ran my fingers over them, barely containing myself at the shiver that ran through the body. When Steve cleared his throat I just smiled at her apologetically and said, "sorry, mine are somewhere much more private. Somewhere you referenced, in fact." Steve choked out a laugh because although I'd mentioned the words to him before, I had never admitted to their location.

Natasha quickly came back out of the bathroom, and Steve popped in next as I wasn't quite ready to leave my soulmate's side. When he exited, however, I quickly took my turn, rushing back out just as soon as I could. Steph was sitting in an armchair, so I joined Steve and Natasha on the couch across from her.

I had a million questions I wanted to ask, like why was the mafia after her. But before I could begin asking my questions, Bucky strode in through the front door Steph had apparently not locked. Natasha's frown said that she realized the same thing and was planning to have words with Steph about safety precautions.

"So, Bucky. I assume this is what you needed to take care of before you found me again. How did you even know where to go or when to be there?" Steve asked.

He gave Steve a quick smile that contained more love than I'd ever hoped to see on the Winter Soldier's face, but he didn't respond. Instead he walked over so that he was standing between Steph and the rest of us, facing Steph and asked her, "why'd they blow up that building, Doll?"

Her eyes widened and she just shook her head in disbelief. While she was reacting, Bucky pulled up the back of his shirt enough that we could read the grey writing on his back just as Steph said the words, "Because they're idiots. Everyone in Trenton knows I live at 221 Centre St., not 227."

Natasha looked at the four of us and said, "huh, well, that works out nicely. Though given the fact that she's Barnes's platonic, and well, people want to blow her up, I'm going to go out on a limb and say she's trouble, Sam."

That might be, but so was Steve, and I had a feeling Steph would turn out to be exactly my kind of trouble.


	10. How Did You Know I Was There? - Steph/Clint

**How Did You Know I was There? - Steph/Clint**

_**Clint's POV** _

She saw me. I don't know HOW, but this woman knew I was here. I'd been in my perch for hours before she and her crew showed up, and I hadn't moved a muscle. Yet somehow, she knew. I was sure of it.

"Guys, I'm made," I whispered into my communicator, careful not to move.

"That's impossible, Clint. Bucky and Steve both checked from pretty much every vantage point. Even with their enhanced eyesight, they couldn't spot you," Natasha whispered in that way too damn calm voice of hers.

"I'm telling you, that woman  _knows_  I'm here." I watched in disbelief as she tensed, rubbed the back of her neck again, and turned, slowly running her eyes over the top of the building on which I had made my perch. She turned back around equally slowly, but then she pulled out her phone. "I'm definitely made," I repeated willing the team to believe me.

We'd come to Trenton, New Jersey after following a lead that some HYDRA weapons were being moved through here. Initial intel had told us that the gunrunner, Amos Beckham, had a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear in court. Of course, wanting to know full well what the situation was, we'd done an investigation into the situation. We'd relatively easily been able to uncover that Plum Bail Bonds had written the bond, and from there it was an easy leap to someone from Rangeman being the most likely to be brought in to hunt down Beckham.

So we'd started a run on Rangeman, its CEO Carlos "Ranger" Manoso, and any employees whose employment we could verify. And that's when things had gotten interesting. Our investigation had shown that Ranger had a  _solid_  team made up of largely former special forces operatives and mercenaries who seemed to be extremely loyal to their country and each other. They may have intense, checkered pasts, but so did most of our team. And we'd been able to verify that none of them were HYDRA.

Cap and Natasha's uncovering of HYDRA's infiltration in SHIELD and, it turned out in the months that followed, Stark Industries had left some very large gaps in Stark Industries' regular security. When you added in the fact that Stark had recruited Maria Hill to begin to create a privatized global security branch of Stark Industries, well, we were in need of a lot of trustworthy, loyal teams of employees to fill in those gaps that were really more chasms. Finding this ready-made, large team that seemed to check all the boxes of qualifications we needed had caused a unanimous change in mission parameters.

Instead of busting in right away to take everyone down, we'd set up a longer term surveillance mission. We'd still make sure we didn't lose the shipment of weapons, Amos, or the buyer, but we wanted to check out what kind of moves Rangeman had. Who the woman was in relation to Ranger or Rangeman, we didn't exactly know. She definitely didn't show up on any official employment records we'd been able to find, but she seemed to have a close relationship with pretty much everyone who lived and/or worked in that building. We had been able to determine that she also worked for Plum Bail Bonds, her name was Stephanie Plum, and she was cousin to Vincent Plum, the owner of Plum Bail Bonds. It seemed she was a bounty hunter who handled the lower bonds, and that was presumably how she'd met Ranger and his men.

But this wasn't a low-bond case, which is why I didn't understand why she was here and no doubt blowing my cover with that phone call. So when she hung up her phone, looked in my direction again, then ducked around the corner of the building, I started cursing up a blue streak. Still, it seemed no one on the team believed me, and Cap insisted that I wait it out. Exactly two minutes later, I felt what had to be one of my least favorite feelings in the world- the metal of a gun barrel pressing into the back of my head.

"Don't. Move. A. Muscle," a voice behind me said confidently. I went completely still, comforted by the fact that my team had heard the man and were mobilizing to provide me backup. All I had to do in the meantime was play along, so I obeyed when the voice continued, "Okay, you're going to slowly put your hands behind your head, one at a time."

Following his directions, I allowed myself to be restrained, and when I was finally able to turn around, I felt vindicated that at least it was Ranger Manoso himself who had managed to get the drop on me. He carefully and thoroughly frisked me, and I noticed him becoming more and more wary as the number of weapons he found increased. As we walked downstairs, with me at gunpoint I said calmly, "I'm not here to cause any problems for you; I'll cooperate."

He didn't seem at all reassured and just said, "I recognize you, but I haven't placed you yet. Generally, that's not a good thing."

With a record like his, I was sure the guy had made a lot of bad enemies, so I couldn't say I blamed him one bit for that reaction. When he guided me to an SUV and shackled me into the back, I didn't take it personally, just waited to see how everything would play out. Apparently satisfied that I was secure, I was surprised when he walked over to where Stephanie had been and brought her over to the car.

They climbed into the front seats with Ranger in the driver's seat and he said, "well, there's your man, Babe. He had himself a sniper perch, just like you said, so why don't you tell me why you think he isn't dangerous?"

She turned in her seat and leaned around it to get a good look at me, and when her blue eyes fixed on mine for the first time, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Unable to hold the question back any longer I asked, "How did you know I was there? ESP? Telepathy? What are you, Wonder Woman or something?"

Ranger went absolutely still in the front seat and tensed up when he heard what I said while the woman let out a delighted laugh and jumped out of the car and into the backseat, causing Ranger to start cursing and telling her to stay back. I was completely baffled by her reaction until she said, laughing the whole time, "no, as much as I wish I was Wonder Woman, I'm just a regular person, but I know what and who you are!"

I felt my eyes widen against my will, but relaxed when she pulled out her keys and started undoing my restraints, directing her comments to the man in the front seat as she chastised, "Ranger, how could you not recognize him? This is Hawkeye; you just captured an Avenger. That can't be good. Also, he's my soulmate, so I kindly request that you not restrain him again… unless I specifically ask you to, but I think I'd probably be more likely to want to do that myself…"

I was relatively sure she hadn't meant to say that last part out loud, so for now I didn't comment on it, though Ranger's amused gaze met mine in the rearview mirror so I was pretty sure he'd be teasing her about it later. She had my shackles undone and maneuvered so that her side was facing me and pulled up her shirt. I could see my handwriting spelling out my first words to her in black ink, and couldn't help but feel more than a little unworthy. I ran a finger over them, noting the smattering of grey words on her torso, front, and back, in numerous different handwritings with interest. I was pretty sure I recognized some of those, and the "Sooooo, Connie says I'm supposed to make you into a badass fugitive apprehension agent" also in grey on her arm had me putting two and two together looking at Ranger again in question. He was her mentor.

He simply nodded in a way that seemed to both answer my question and promise me a most violent death if I didn't treat Stephanie right. As far as I was concerned, that just meant he was good people so I returned the nod to show my understanding. Unwilling to start out with my newfound soulmate with a lie, I said, "we've been doing surveillance on your team as part of an operation involving Amos Beckham, so I know who you both are as well. Stephanie, please, you gotta answer my question though. If you're just a regular person, how'd you know I was there? Because I had two super soldiers check over that hiding spot, and they couldn't see me with their enhanced vision."

She just shrugged, as she continued to stare at me like  _she_  couldn't believe  _her_  luck. "A few ways. The first was the tingle. I've always felt one on the back of my neck when Ranger, who is my platonic soulmate by the way, was nearby. I felt the same thing with you but like ten times stronger. And it was a more, I don't know how to describe it other than to say fire behind it. I guess actually, that was pretty much it. Beyond that it was just a gut feeling that I like to jokingly call my 'spidey-sense'. I just knew someone was up there, but I didn't feel uneasy the way I do when it's a stalker or someone trying to kill me."

Ranger spoke up then, "we'd done a reconnaissance of the area ourselves before sending Steph in, so we didn't want to believe it, but we've all learned to trust Steph's gut first, question second."

"I'm setting aside the comment about stalkers and people trying to kill you for now because I'm assuming there isn't an active threat at the moment," I paused waiting for confirmation from both before saying, "why are you here? And why were you going in alone? Unarmed? I know you don't have the background Ranger and the men we've been able to verify as his employees do."

I felt inexplicably drawn to Steph, which was probably the soulmate bond trying to form, so I was relieved when she apparently gave up trying to fight it and just crawled into my lap, sighing with contentment. She tucked her head against my chest and under my chin, so I wrapped my arms around her before she answered, "I'm not unarmed. I'm wired and I have a taser. Ranger and his men were there for backup. I was just trying to plant some bugs so we could figure out when the best time would be for the capture. And see what else was in play because we were concerned that he was mixed up in something bigger. Given your presence, I think we can safely assume there's a big old check mark in that column."

I could hear the sound of motorcycles approaching quickly so I said, "you'd be right about that. And since Ranger so kindly smashed my earpiece, I can only assume that's my extraction incoming. Call off your men, Ranger and everything will be fine."

He did as I asked just as Cap and Natasha pulled up on either side of the SUV, with Natasha actually on the sidewalk. Ranger just lowered the back windows so that they could see in, and I smiled out at my teammates. Steph was facing Cap, who was obviously recognizable, but she just stayed in her position and said, "That is one sweet ride; I've got to admit, I'm jealous."

Clearly baffled by the one-two punch of the position he had found us in and the words Steph had spoken to him, he just said, "Thank you, ma'am. I certainly enjoy it."

"Ah," she replied. "So you're the polite one."

From her other side, Natasha spoke up, "Care to tell me who you are and exactly what you're doing to my best friend and the world's best sniper? I've never seen him distracted like that."

Steph shifted to look over at Natasha and she froze. "If I'd known you were the possessive one, I would have been scared out of my mind my whole life."

Natasha's serious expression turned highly amused as she asked, "so how did a 'regular person' blow your cover, Barton?" quoting Steph's words that were written in black across my chest to me. Goodness knows she'd seen them enough times, even carefully applied stitches around and through them, before.

Steph quickly explained the same way she had to me. Once she was done, I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "so, how many more soulmates do you have?" I felt her face heat up in a blush against me and mentally cursed myself because that was actually a very rude question, even for a soulmate to ask when I'd just met her. Natasha just reached through the window and smacked me, which I murmured my thanks to her for.

"Well," Steph said, shrugging off my insistence that she didn't have to answer, "you're my only romantic bond, so you can relax about that. Then there's these three here as platonics and if I'm counting right, four more platonics who I've yet to meet?"

Thinking it through, there was Bruce, Tony, Sam, Bucky, and Thor. The first four all had at least one set of grey words that they'd mentioned and hadn't met the owner of yet, but Thor had explained to us how soulmates, platonic and romantic worked on Asgard, so she wouldn't have words for him if they were paired anyway. I said to Cap, "what do you wanna bet it's actually five?"

"I'll take that bet," Natasha said a little too eagerly, "because I think it's six."

I had no idea who she thought the last one was, but I nodded my head in acceptance of the bet. I couldn't wait to introduce Steph to everyone and see if we were guessing correctly.


	11. What Did You Say to Him? - Steph/Bruce

**What did you say to him? - Steph/Bruce**

_**Steph's POV** _

I had been born with the words of my romantic soulmate blazoned across my chest in strong, black script. The words of my platonic soulmate, however, had shown up in 2005. Rather than being 100% grey, like everyone else I'd ever met, they had an almost green tinge to them. It would be spooky, but, let's face it, my life was kinda spooky anyway in the best of times. Those grey words were simplistic and inelegantly written, but they were woven in with the formal black script so beautifully, that I'd assumed they belonged to my romantic soulmate's son, daughter, or otherwise equally important child.

Which, as I'd grown older not really wanting children, wasn't the best news. But if fate decided we were perfect for each other, who was I to doubt it? So, whenever I'd see a father out and about with a child, I'd wonder if that was the day we would FINALLY meet.

Of course, the actual words themselves implied that it would likely be at the very least a strange day when we met, and in all probability, it would actually traumatic be one.

"What did you say to him? I thought you were dead for sure." Those were, without a doubt, words that haunted your waking moments if ever you allowed your mind go idle. And they made you wonder about your life choices growing up. And yet, the day I'd gotten shot at for the first time after becoming a bounty hunter was the first day I thought they might make sense after all.

From that point forward, I pretty much expected to meet my soulmate each and every time I was involved in a situation where the cops were called in or I got kidnapped. Not that the thought was enough to make me put my neck on the line any more than I usually did. Which is why when it was time for me to do my Christmas shopping, and I had a stalker, I took precautions. I didn't want any of the Merry Men with me because they always caused a scene and made people nervous at the mall. And let's face it, the already frantic holiday shopping scene really didn't need that vibe added to it.

I also didn't want to go online shopping because nothing ever seemed to work out right when I bought it on the internet. The colors or sizes were off, and I ended up having to return it, which involved a trip to the Post Office. And after that one package addressed to me caught fire during sorting, they just didn't seem to like seeing me there. They always made everything extra difficult, and I just didn't have the time or energy for that.

Then the idea had come to me- I'd heard that Avenger's Tower in Manhattan had a shopping mall on the first two public floors. It was perfect. Because who in their right mind would stalk someone INTO a mall that was in the home of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? That would pretty much be a suicide mission. Not to mention that rumor had it the whole place had some sort of advanced computer and camera monitoring system to make it secure and to prevent anyone from using the public floors to cause problems for the Avengers. I was convinced it was a GOOD plan, so I slipped my guard and went with it

Well apparently my stalkers were absolute morons. That was the only explanation I had for it when my eyes met those of one Leo Garnett as I was sitting enjoying my Mrs. Field's cookie and slushie. Hey, shopping was hard work, so I'd earned it. And really I was wishing I'd gotten two cookies when I saw good old Leo. As soon as I saw him, I started backing up, but he kept coming so I turned tail and ran.

Right into a man with curly dark hair who looked more than a little surprised and puzzled when he saw me. I quickly stood looking over my shoulder looked at the man and made a very apologetic face before continuing to try to run away. The man grabbed my arm and opened his mouth to say something looking quite concerned. Before he got the opportunity to do so, I saw Leo behind him with a gun. Without hesitating, I shoved the stranger behind me. A moment later I felt the impact of a bullet, and I hadn't even heard him firing.

Wasn't the first time I'd been shot, but it still hurt. Looking down, I saw a bunch of red blooming rapidly on my side. I kind of staggered to the ground and saw the stranger looking at me so apologetically and with more than a little fear of his own. Knowing this was very likely the end as Leo was drawing nearer, I took a shaky breath and smiled at him saying, "I'm sorry for running into you, but really you need to run. He isn't going to stop coming; just leave me here."

This odd look of sadness crossed the man's face and when Leo raised the gun again, the man started turning green and let out a roar that only grew louder and angrier the larger the man grew.

"Huh," I babbled at him even though he wasn't paying much attention to me and I didn't even know if he could understand me at that point, "you don't see that every day. Well, actually, maybe  _you_  do, but I don't!"

The big green thing that was quite obviously The Hulk roared again and reached an arm out, smacking Leo and making him hit the wall with such force I was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting up ever again. Then Hulk turned back to me and said, "Pretty Lady don't worry." Ever so carefully, he picked me up and jumped. Shielding me with his body and his free arm. As he did so, I could see, ever so faintly, MY writing. The grey writing over his green skin made it look almost the same color as my grey-ish writing. It was the words, "Huh, you don't see that every day."

We smashed through the ceiling to the next floor then onto the next without stopping. At some point I lost count, and I was pretty sure it was because I passed out. Much to my surprise, I actually did wake up again. Between being shot, getting picked up by The Hulk, and traveling through floors of a building, I hadn't been expecting to do so.

When I came to, thankfully to dim light, and an ever so faint and much less annoying than usual beeping of a heart monitor. Ranger was sitting in a chair across from me with his fingers steepled together looking very unhappy with me. I gave him a half-grimace, half-smile then looked behind him and saw all of the Avengers lined up, in full uniform except for the one man, who I now knew was Dr. Banner, who was wearing a white lab coat.

I tried to think through the fuzz of the painkillers of what was the best excuse that was going to wipe that look off my face. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, when Dr. Banner spoke up saying, "What did you say to him? I thought you were dead for sure."

My mouth slammed back shut, and I just stared at him in disbelief. Finally I said, "today?! I didn't say anything to him today. Actually, I only spoke to Leo that one time when I lured him out of the bar so Ranger could arrest him. But apparently that was enough to make him go all crazy stalker and decide he wanted to kill me."

"No, I mean the, uh, Other Guy."

Tony Stark was standing behind him and when I wasn't quite sure what he meant, Stark started pantomiming that he was a monster smashing things. Since he was wearing his iron man armor, he looked one hundred percent ridiculous, but I managed to keep it together.

"Ooooooooohhhhh, the Other Guy. Right. Well, when you first transformed, I said something about not seeing something like that everyday. Something to that effect. But I really don't think he heard me or paid attention. Seriously though, he was nice. He called me 'Pretty Lady' and told me not to worry, actually. At no point did he act aggressively toward me or make me afraid." After a pause where no one said anything, I figured I should put all the cards on the table. "Which is good, you know, with him being my platonic soulmate and all."

Everyone was already looking at me, but I could feel their focus turn even more intense. Like they'd turned some sort of laser beam on high or something. "Also good since we're  _romantic_  soulmates?"

"Huh," said Stark, "you know, that might actually work. If he likes her, and they're soulmates too, maybe he'll let you two be... And you wouldn't have to worry about protecting her from him because he's already shown that he'll protect her."

"Wait a minute," the Black Widow said, "how do we know she's telling the truth?"

"Well, if all those rumors about the cameras and security in that mall are true, you could just watch the video. And presumably Bruce has my words, and I'm sure you, of all people, could find handwriting samples to match against if you don't trust me to provide my own. Oh, and if you can get him to show you the H… Other Guy has my words too!" Everyone looked at me in surprise, and I said, "No, really. They were on the underside of his arm that he was using to shield me. I saw them! I'd assume you could verify those on the video too?"

They all seemed to take in my words, and nodded in agreement before asking someone named JARVIS to play the footage right there on the wall. While they were occupied trying to get a good angle of Hulk's arm, Bruce slowly slid closer to me. Ranger was still sitting there, ignoring the commotion behind him and said, "don't think you're off the hook, Steph. We are going to have a conversation about you leaving your trackers behind, slipping your guard, and driving all the way to Manhattan. Even if you'd gotten to your phone, do you have any idea how long it would have taken us to get to you? And I assume you were just walking out on the street between wherever you parked and the Tower! He could have grabbed you from the streets and we wouldn't have known where to look! We would have been so far off, and wouldn't have even thought to look in Manhattan until your car turned up in the system somewhere!"

"He's right, you know." Captain America said in a deep voice. "While you were out, he explained everything to us, and that really was a bad idea. And you're going to have to be even more security conscious now, you would not believe the people that Banner has after him."

Okay, now I was getting lectured by Captain America who managed to seem supremely disappointed in me and was also totally frightening me. Bruce finally made it to my side, and he spoke up saying, "alright, everybody out. I want to talk to Steph, without an audience. Natasha, Clint, you can stop that. Or if you won't, then just continue it upstairs. She's clearly unarmed at the moment and it's not like I can't stop her if she is lying and she tries to hurt me."

Everyone started clearing out and when it looked like Ranger was hesitating I just turned to him and said, "go. We'll talk later, and you can continue your lecture then. I'll be fine." He waffled for a few more seconds before squeezing my hand and stepping out of the room through the door Iron Man was holding open.

When we were finally alone, I looked over at Bruce and said, "so…"

"So…" he responded.

Then I couldn't help it, I started smiling at him. Seeing him return it made it feel like a huge weight was lifted off of me. I held out the arm on my uninjured side, and he took it, surprising me by sliding onto the bed next to me on my side.

"I assume I'm going to be okay?"

"You'll be just fine in a couple weeks. You lost a bit of blood, but it didn't hit anything major."

"Thanks for the rescue," I said, sighing contentedly when he just hummed and stroked a hand through my hair. As I started to drift off again I said, "and for the drugs." I could feel him chuckle next to me and knowing my soulmates were with me and happy was enough to let me drift off for a few hours of rest in complete contentment. We'd have plenty of time to talk later.


	12. Captain America Needs Your Help - Steph/Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beginning to repeat pairings now.

**Captain America Needs Your Help - Steph X Bucky**

_**Bucky's POV** _

"Okay, well this has gotten a little more complicated," Natasha said over the team's secure communication channel.

"Tell me about it," Clint grumbled. "There's no way we can grab him without causing a scene and Natasha is definitely too recognizable these days with all the senate hearings and such splashing her face everywhere."

"The way he's checking out the ladies, he's definitely straight, so he's not going to go with you easily, Bucky," Steve added slowly. "Maybe you can find someone to help you? Let her know we have a full team and we'll guarantee her safety. All she has to do is convince him to go outside."

"Uh, Cap." Sam said, "are you proposing we use a  _civilian_? That's not your style at all; in fact, you usually object to plans involving civilians."

"True, but this guy is a scientist, and all our research shows that he isn't combat trained. If she can separate him from the other people he came in with, he really shouldn't be dangerous. And we've got the whole team here. I think we all agree- anyone we recruit in, her protection becomes our number one priority."

I listened as each member of the team voiced their agreement, and huffed out a breath. At one point in time, I'd been charming, but I hadn't quite managed to find that part of myself yet. My best bet was to be forthcoming and upfront and to try everything in my power not to freak her out from the start. I cast a glance around the room trying to find someone who looked nonthreatening but also like she'd be trusting and willing to help us out. When Natasha started listing out those exact thoughts, I finally broke my silence, "I know what I'm doing, Tasha," I grumbled.

"Well, just trying to help," Natasha replied. "Ooooh, what about that brunette with the curly hair. Smallish, doesn't look threatening at all. Seems like she's here for a girls night but probably DD so she's looking a little bored. It looks like she's here with a group of men, so you'll have your work cut out for you, but she doesn't seem to be romantically attached to any of them, so that helps. And by the looks of her friends, she's probably not easy to scare."

She was the same woman I'd singled out in my mind still, "I expect some help if those friends cause me problems because I could take them, but they look serious enough that someone would definitely get hurt in the process."

"We are not causing a bar fight," Steve scolded. "If they cause problems, just move on and find someone else."

"Might as well cause you Captain Spoilsport," Clint said. "You're letting us spice things up by adding in a civilian, but you aren't going to let us start a fight with what looks like a dozen armed forces vets?"

"I just think we don't need the negative press right now because you know it would make the papers," Steve reasoned.

"Relax, Steve. Bucky's not going to start a fight. He knows what he's doing."

This from the woman who was just telling me what to do. That was definitely a thought I kept to myself though because I was definitely not dumb enough to say that to Natasha. Generally I found it a best practice to not call her on any of her shit. Figuring the matter was settled, I approached the woman trying to transmit as non-threatening of a presence to her friends as possible.

I brought my flesh hand up to tap on her shoulder and said softly, "excuse me, ma'am, Captain America needs your help."

I heard laughter over my earpiece which only intensified even as the woman stiffened up, straightened her shoulders, and as she was turning to face me said, "Even though I've been expecting someone to say that to me, I can't get over how awful and cheesy that line is…" She trailed off and gaped up at me. I smiled in recognition of her words, but before I could say anything in response she said, "okay. I recognize you, so I'm guessing you actually mean it, which is a relief because it means you're not incredibly lame. What do you say we push pause on the 'woohoo I found my soulmate' moment, let me help you with whatever it is you need, and then we'll celebrate?"

"Oh, I like her," said Sam. "She's not going to take  _any_  shit from you, Bucky."

Everyone murmured their agreement, and I nodded mine to Steph.

"Well, I am much less enthusiastic about this now, but you see the guy over there?"

"So nerdy and awkward looking that I'm surprised he doesn't have a pocket protector and big, taped-together glasses?"

"Sure, Doll, that's him." Her friends who had been with her had pressed closer when I'd approached and were actively listening. I hoped I wasn't making a mistake talking in front of them. "He's a scientist at HYDRA, we believe not by choice. We need you to get him outside without the people he came here with so we can find out what he knows."

Much to my surprise, she started laughing. "A distraction. You, my soulmate, picked me at random to do a distraction. For Captain America."

"Well, you're my soulmate, so I'm sure he'd rather you call him Steve, but yes, that's basically it. Why is that funny?"

"I'm a bounty hunter, and I do that all the time for my friends here."

I grinned at her, "nice. I think I have a new found respect for fate hearing that. Rest assured, the whole team is here, so we've got you covered. We'll keep you safe;  _I'll_  keep you safe. I promise. I've waited so long to find you."

She smiled softly at me and looked like she was going to ask me something, but decided to set it aside from now. "If they're forcing him, they are probably threatening him with something. It could be with death. Him or his family. Are you going to help him?"

"Yes," I nodded eagerly amazed that she was trusting us so easily with her safety and instead focused on the safety of a complete stranger.

"Okay. Front door or back?"

There was a brief debate among the team before I relayed the decision to her, "back, please, if you can manage."

"Don't you worry about it," she said giving me a wink before unbuttoning her shirt another couple buttons and adjusting her breasts in her bra.

"Oh we are going to have so much fun together," Natasha's voice said in my earpiece and I shuddered at the knowledge. Heaven help me if this woman was Natasha's platonic soulmate she'd yet to locate. I'd never seen the words, she kept them covered for security reasons, I just knew she had them. So I had no idea if the handwriting matched, but something in Tasha's voice made me suspect she might have seen mine somehow and knew the writing was a match.

Before she walked away I grabbed her arm gently, "what's your name, Doll?"

"Steph."

"Okay, Steph, please be careful."

"Promise."

As she walked away one of the men stepped forward and said, "full disclosure, she does a ton of these for us, and she's very good. You've got maybe five minutes. Max. And that's without the motivation of getting to see you again, which I'm guessing she'll be eager to do." I looked at him in surprise and he gestured for me to follow her. As I started to step away, noticing his men also fading into the shadows around Steph I heard him give a parting, "oh, and things blow up around her all the time."

"Well, that's not all that reassuring," Tony, who had been uncharacteristically quiet up until that moment said. "What kind of things do you think... JARVIS? Start with facial recognition."

"You're not running a background check on my soulmate," I argued.

Clint snorted, "we all are because you won't feel comfortable doing so."

"Damn, she is good," Sam muttered, and I had to agree. It had been three minutes and fifteen seconds and Steph was already leading the man out the back door. What I wouldn't give to have heard what she said to him.

"I am one lucky son of a gun," I muttered as I stepped out the door behind her and saw Steph restraining the man with his arm twisted up behind his back.

She looked over at me and gave me a huge smile, "sorry. It seems he's a handsy drunk. You're probably going to need him to sleep this off before you can get anything useful out of him."

Seeing Sam step out of the door, I waved him over and indicated the man, "this is Sam, he's going to take our friend here, thanks. And if you want, we're going to go get to know each other a little. You can meet the rest of the team later."

So saying I tossed my earpiece to Sam and held out a hand to Steph which she took once Sam had a good grip on the scientist. She took my hand and used it to pull herself right into my side. She wrapped her arm around my waist and started guiding me away eagerly asking if I'd mind going to her place so we could get to know each other in peace. We reached a group of black cars and the man who'd spoken to me earlier growled out a very creative threat before he tossed me a set of keys. Following her instructions, I drove off, mentally thanking the fates the whole way.


	13. I'll Just Bet You Are - Steph/Clint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was for a St. Patrick's day prompt.

**I'll Just Bet You Are - Steph X Clint**

**Steph's POV**

I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one who sometimes did things that might be a bit out of character as a result of their soulmark words. And really, how could you not. From a very early age, especially if you were born with your words like I was, that soulmates existed. Pairs or more of people who fate had decided were only complete when they were together. Sure, everyone knew at least one soulmate bound group who that just didn't work. Most people also knew someone whose soulmate faded into oblivion before they managed meet. But if you had yet to meet your soulmate, no matter how old you got, and your words hadn't disappeared, there was a tiny bit of your heart that could not get over the sheer  _possibility_  they represented.

So if, for instance, your soulmate words said something like, "hey! Watch where you're going!" you were more prone to not pay attention or just randomly run into people you didn't know. Or if your words said, "hey, can I buy you a drink?" you would probably be more likely to sit around in bars alone, hoping that someone was going to make you an offer and whatever you said in response would fit their words.

It was all very chicken and the egg. If the fates knew you were going to be together, and knew that you were going to say those words, then how could it be that you did something to cause them because they were said? Every time I really sat down and thought about it, it made me want a drink. Or a dessert. Hell, why not have both?

Still my words were kind of generic, so it was hard to really think of what I was going to say that would make my soulmate respond with the words he would respond with. And I was almost certain it was a he. Whenever I could manipulate the circumstances or my introductions in a way to try to make the person I was meeting say them, it didn't come close to working. But that was okay because one day it would happen.

When I woke up on St. Patrick's day, I felt lucky. Cliche though it may have been, that was the only way to describe it. It was going to be a lucky day. I spent my day stumbling across skips without even really trying and bringing them in without incident- almost like I was a professional or something.

I had plans to go to the bar and drink green beer with some of the Merry Men after work, and I had just enough time when I stopped by the bank to drop off the checks for all five of the days' skips to stop by the mall and pick up something for myself in celebration. My first stop had been Victoria's Secret where I grabbed an emerald green underwear set, just for fun. I wasn't planning to stop anywhere else, but I caught a shirt in the corner of my eye that gave me pause. I studied it and figured that it could be a precursor to the words I had written across my chest in the very same spot that the shirt would proclaim me "magically delicious."

I mean, come on, a shirt that said something my soulmate's words could absolutely follow directly over where those words were written presented itself to me already on holiday clearance a day early and on the luckiest day I'd had possibly in my entire life? There was no way that was a coincidence.

Dashing home with even more bounce to my step, I showered, shaved, buffed, and polished every inch of my body. I took extra time to examine myself in the new green underwear, satisfied with the result still and suffering no buyers remorse. With a quick glance at my watch, I dashed out the door just in time for the Merry Man DD service to pick me up mentally reminding myself not to call it that in front of Ranger. He always got a pained look on his face and told me his men were not toys nor did they live to serve when I said things like that. Then I would point out that he put me on lockdown with them and forced me to spend so much time with them that it was his own damn fault that I had them wrapped around my finger. After that, he would pout. Sure, he didn't look anything other than normal or maybe slightly pained, but I knew he was pouting on the inside.

Plus, the men kind of were toys in that some of them let me treat them like my own little ken dolls. As I slid into the front seat next to Tank, I peeked my head into the back. With great satisfaction I saw Woody wearing the "World's Tallest Leprechaun" shirt I had bought him, and Hector with the ridiculous rainbow shirt I'd forced him to accept despite some very dark and threatening mutterings. Try as he might, he just couldn't intimidate me anymore. Tank cut his eyes over to me and took in my outfit with a groan, "Little Girl, you're going to make us start a bar fight to protect your honor tonight, aren't you?"

"Hey, anything that gets me out of having to eat corned beef and cabbage with Cal at midnight because it's his weird ass tradition is fine with me!"

"Awwww, Steph, you promised!" I heard from the very back.

"Did I? Let's review," I shouted, "I believe I told you it was an interesting tradition. I verified that the pub did in fact have corned beef and cabbage and would still be serving it at midnight. I did not, however, actually agree to eat it with you! Besides, I'm planning to fill up on booze because I am celebrating."

"Oh yeah, Beautiful, what's that?" called Lester who looked less than thrilled to be sitting bitch in the backseat.

"Didn't you hear, Les? Today has been my lucky day! I caught five skips today without any issues!"

The men offered me various congratulations, and Tank did as well, but when we stopped at a red light he looked pointedly at my shirt and quietly said, "you know, you might not meet him today."

I pasted a smile on my face even though the idea made me want to cry and said, "I know, but it's worth a shot, right?"

We made it into the pub, grabbed a table, and took turns ordering the rounds. When it was my turn, I waved off offers to help, and wandered up to the bar. I was casually leaning with my arms on the bar, kind of framing my chest when I saw a man get shoved forward by a group of friends. I felt his presence next to me and shifted so I was facing him a little more as he opened his mouth. Whatever he was about to say was lost as he took in the writing on my shirt. He closed his mouth and then opened it again and said the words I'd been waiting to hear my whole life.

"I'll just bet you are," he said with such a carnal promise in his voice that all I could do was look at his muscular physique, especially those arms, and lick my lips.

Finally I shook myself a little and my mouth just started talking before I could really think about it. "Fuck yeah, I am one lucky bitch. And I love today," I replied.

Slowly a smile broke out over his face and he pulled his shirt up over his equally muscular torso until I could read my words across his chest. I laughed because they were in pretty much the exact same place as mine and then clapped a hand over my mouth. He didn't look more than a year or two older than me, so he'd had my words since he was a small child.

"I'm so sorry," I stammered.

He dropped his shirt back down before he pulled my hand away from my mouth, kissing it and placing it on his back. Then he mirrored the action with his hands on the small of my back and pulled me closer. "Trust me, Honey, there's nothing to be sorry about unless you have to break it to me that it isn't your handwriting."

"Steph," I said without really thinking. After all, my soulmate definitely needed to know my name. "And, it is your writing, but I mean, you must have had that when you were a kid. Gosh, your parents probably hate me."

"Well, I got them when I was five, but they weren't around to know. Really, with my background, it wasn't really a problem. And the name's Clint Barton. Now, do I get to make sure my handwriting matches your words."

It was getting a little difficult to think with the fact that he was so hot, he was standing so close, and there was an undeniable force I felt pushing me to solidify our bond- something I'd only heard of spoken in soft whispers but obviously never experienced for myself. And we definitely couldn't do  _that_  in public. I licked my lips again, fascinated by the way his eyes followed the motion.

"Ummm, well. I can't really. And we just met." I worried my lip in my teeth, trying to fight off the desire coiling in my belly. That pull was relentless, so finally I just said, "fuck it."

I took a step back from him just far enough to create a little space and pulled out the neckline of my shirt far enough for him to get a glimpse down at my cleavage and his writing. It must have matched because the next thing I knew, his hands slid down to cup my ass through my jeans as he pulled me up into him and gave me a kiss that was just barely not something that would get us thrown in jail. I could hear clamoring around us but didn't really fully register it until Clint pulled away panting. When we looked up, we both froze.

Obviously not liking me being manhandled in the bar by a complete stranger, the Merry Men had tried to intervene. Then Clint's friends had tried to protect him. Both groups were clearly kind of intense, and now they were holding weapons on each other. Except for Lester who had been disarmed by a small woman with red hair and she had him in a position I was sure he'd enjoy if he didn't look to be a second away from peeing his pants.

"Do you think you can convince her to teach me that?" I whispered to Clint.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I'll be spending a lot of time trying to get her to only teach you that."

"Sweet, that's going to be so useful at work."

Clint startled next to me, "what exactly do you do?"

I was slowly taking in the people around us and recognizing them one by one. "I'm a bond enforcement agent," I replied slowly and without thought. Eyes wide I turned back to Clint and said, "wait a minute, what did you say your name was again?"

He gave me a grin that put Ranger's wolf grin to shame and said, "exactly what you think I said."

"Beautiful, you let him touch you like that and you didn't even know his name?" Lester said sounding surprisingly scandalized.

"Like you're one to talk, Les, you're a giant man-whore. And Clint is my soulmate." I replied scowling at him. Then to the woman I was 90% certain was The Black Widow on top of him I said, "And you really might want to get off him before he gets ideas and says something that will make you break him."

Her smile widened and I heard Clint groan next to me and felt his arms tighten around my waist as he pulled me into him more securely. In what was one of the raspiest voices I'd ever heard from a woman, she said, "thanks for the warning, I'll take your word for it." As she stood, she stepped to the side, grabbed a stack of napkins from a nearby table and dipped them in water. Rubbing on her arm to take off what seemed to be a thick layer of makeup, she flashed me the words I had just spoken written on her arm grey. I in turn showed her the writing on the palm of my hand. When she nodded in recognition, Clint put a hand over my mouth and tried to use his arms to cover up my ears.

I was laughing as he said, "nope, the rest of you can talk to her and meet her tomorrow. Tasha, back off. Steph and I are going to go get to know each other a little better."

A shiver went through my body as I thought of all the ways I wanted to get to know him. When the Merry Men made a move to protest, I pointed at them and said, "stay. I can make this decision for myself and I'm going with Clint. I will see you tomorrow… late." I grabbed Clint's hand and pulled him with me toward the door calling back over my shoulder to a distressed looking Tank, "I'm sure he can take care of any crazies who can come after me between now and then!"

We stepped out of the pub and I threw up my hand hailing a cab instantly. Really, it was my favorite day. I gave the cab driver my address as Clint asked, "Uh, should I be worried about that last bit?"

"Nope, not today. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow if you want, for now just-" I cut myself off by pulling his mouth into mine. It had been a great day, and I knew it was about to be an amazing night.


	14. Hello, Cowboy - Woody X Natasha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I meant it when I said I'd accept prompts! Including ones that didn't strictly focus on Steph's match. Feel free to send in requests via comments!

 

_**Woody's POV** _

"Darlin' what did I say?" As she was proving to me right at that moment, there was pretty much not a single patient bone in my platonic soulmate's body. And for whatever reason she'd been extra antsy all week. I kept checking the calendar to verify that there wasn't a full-moon or something of the like going on, and so far there had been no reason I could find for it. I'd been sneaking contraband foods in for her all week starting first thing Monday morning when she'd woken me up at 5am to go on a run. I'd hoped that it would help her calm down, but it hadn't worked. By Wednesday I'd made her the promise to which I was referring.

"You said we could go to a club after work on Friday. And I've been waiting and waiting. It's seven o'clock! I even ate my vegetables at dinner, so when do we get to go?!" she whined.

"My shift isn't over until 20:00 hours! And you're going to have to be patient on the drive over there."

"Oh my God, why can't any of you just use regular time?!"

I heard the boss's door slam open and mentally cringed waiting for the inevitable explosion. Much to my surprise, what I heard was an exasperated, "for the love of all things good in the world, Woody, just take her! You can have Monday off too, just get her off the floor so the rest of us can finish off the week productively."

I was expecting Steph to yell and scream or at the very least pout, but instead she started doing her happy dance. She boogied over to Ranger and when she tried to give him a hug, he just pushed her toward the stairwell. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, and knowing that some of the guys were more than a little frustrated with her chatter, I quickly shut down my computer, grabbed my wallet and keys, and quickly sped over to the stairwell.

"Woody," Ranger called, "make sure she takes this."

He tossed me a panic button and I rolled my eyes. Like I couldn't keep her safe in one club without backup. "We're going to be in Manhattan, you won't be able to get there quickly if anything goes wrong."

"It's got a tracker in it, so at least there's that."

"Fine, I'll try, but I make no promises. And you have no right to force her to wear it!" It was an argument I'd taken up on Steph's behalf multiple times. "If she doesn't want it, I won't make her."

Ranger turned back around, so I gathered our conversation was over. I took the stairs to my apartment on four, and left the door open as I started getting ready knowing that Steph was just going to flit in and out as she saw fit anyway. She started by bringing in clothes for my opinion… lingerie first.

"Gross, Steph, you're like my annoying little sister. I don't want to pick out your sex clothes; in my mind you're waiting for your soulmate. You may not even have sex then!"

Steph rolled her eyes and said, "you know I had sex with Morelli and Ranger."

I just made a show of putting my hands over my ears and giving her my best intimidating glare; it didn't really work as well now that I'd spoken to her and we were best friends.

"And I'm not leaving you in New York with a stranger, nor are you going to have sex in the club, so what does it matter what you wear under your outfit?"

"They're the beginning of feeling pretty! I can't feel sexy in granny panties!"

"Whatever, I'm not choosing, so pick whatever. I'll help with what goes on top of it if I must."

"Push-up bra it is!"

I shook my head and quickly finished getting ready, grabbing the keys to my private truck. I waited until Steph came bouncing in on some very high heels dressed to kill in a short, tight, bright red dress that clearly showed how much she'd been working out.

"You look nice," I said and brushed a kiss over her cheek. We walked down the hall to the elevator passing a group of our coworkers who put on the appropriate show of catcalling Steph. By the time we were in my truck, she was all energy again, and I said, "you know it is going to take us a while to get there. Are you sure you wouldn't rather go somewhere in town?"

"No, whenever I go out in Trenton, someone sees me who knows me. Then they call someone else, etc. etc., and before I know it, my voicemail box is filled to the brim with messages from my mother asking why I don't just marry you."

"Forcing romantic relationships between platonic soulmates never works!"

"I know, but she's convinced I already met my soulmate and didn't notice. Or that I won't meet him until it is too late for me to get kids or bother getting married. At any rate, please, please, please take us to that new club in Manhattan. I just want to cut loose and not worry about who is going to see me."

"Of course, Darlin'."

We made it to the club without me throwing Steph out of the truck, which was a good thing and were able to make our way in quickly thanks to our names on the VIP list courtesy of Ranger. He may not like having fun himself, but he was good for connections for those of us who were fans of going out.

Leaving Steph at a table, a couple hours later, I went to the bar to pick up our third round of drinks. A beautiful redhead settled onto the stool next to where I was waiting. She had what would only generously be called a mini-skirt in black leather, lethal looking boots, and some kind of black corset-thing on. As soon as her eyes met mine, my mind went blank. Then she opened her mouth and in the sexiest voice I'd ever heard said the words written on my hip in black.

"Hello, Cowboy. I don't normally find cowboys so sexy, but I think you and I could have a lot of fun."

I must have been a saint in a past life because I hadn't done nearly enough good to warrant a soulmate as gorgeous as the woman was. Still, I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as I said, "Hello, Gorgeous. I'm sure we will; fate wouldn't give me a soulmate who didn't like to have fun."

I pulled my shirt up a little and the side of my pants down enough for her to get a glimpse of her words written along my hip. "Mine aren't somewhere I can show you in public, but that's my writing on you. My name's Natasha."

"Woody," I replied, holding my hand out to her. When she grabbed my hand and used it to pull me close for a kiss, I knew I liked her style. As we backed away from each other again, I ran my eyes around the bar trying to find Steph and make sure she wasn't getting into any trouble.

"You here with someone?" she asked.

"Not in the way you mean. My platonic needed to blow off some steam, so I brought her here. I was getting us drinks, but I seem to have lost sight of her." When Natasha hummed noncommittally, I added, "trust me, that woman could find trouble in a convent."

Before I could say anything more, Natasha had swung herself up and climbed me like a tree- sitting on my shoulders. "So, what does she look like? We'll find her and then dump her with my platonic who I had to drag out kicking and screaming but I promise is a very competent babysitter. In the meantime, try not to shift too suddenly so I don't get arrested for indecent exposure."

"She's about your size, curly brown hair, bright red dress."

"You know," a deep voice said from behind me, "you really shouldn't let her talk you into things like that. She'll start to expect it."

"I think I'll let her talk me into things like this whenever she wants. I have no problem with this whatsoever."

"Maybe if you'd seen her kill as many people this way as I have, you'd think twice about that." The voice walked around to the front and held up his bicep for me to see my words on him in grey. When I indicated his words, he leaned around to get a look at them on the same spot on me. "Steve Rogers."

"Huh," I rolled my eyes up toward the woman on my shoulders, "Natasha, what's your last name. I don't recall you saying."

"That's because I didn't," she said with a laugh. 'And yes, it's Romanov. Steve, this is Woody, he's my romantic soulmate. We're looking for his platonic he brought with him who apparently he wasn't lying about having a penchant for trouble. Let me go, Woody."

As soon as I unclasped her hands from where I was holding her hips to steady her, she did some sort of complicated gymnastics move off my shoulders. Given what she'd said and the speed at which she'd left, I knew it was serious, so I cursed and took off after her. We ran down a corridor in the back, only to be stopped by a locked back door.

"Well, that's a fire hazard," I muttered.

"Rogers!" Natasha yelled.

"I got it," Steve said before reaching out and ripping the door off the frame.

"Neat trick," I said as we rushed outside.

Steve and Natasha made quick work of the men, scaring them off while I made sure Steph was okay. Natasha walked up next to me and slid an arm around my waist saying to Steph, "my soulmate here tells me you're trouble."

"I suspect you're trouble too, so we should get along well."

"She's my other platonic," Natasha whispered to me.

"Are you okay, ma'am? Did they hurt you?" Steve asked in earnest.

"Nah, they mostly tried to get away as quickly as they could when they saw her come flying toward them."

"Natasha," my soulmate said while pulling me away. "Come on, they're romantic soulmates as well. Let's give them some time and take some for ourselves."

"I can't just leave her, she was just attacked." I sighed out, wanting more than anything to go with Natasha.

"Sure you can," she said before calling out, "Rogers, you'll look after Steph so Woody and I can get more acquainted, right?"

Steve just waved her away, but I waited for Steph to make eye contact with me. "I'm fine, Woody. But I'll need a ride back to Trenton Sunday night."

"Monday night, I've got Monday off because you were driving the boss crazy, remember?"

"You're welcome!" she yelled back.

I followed Natasha back through the club and out the front door, "don't worry. We live one floor away from each other, so you can check on her in the morning."

"Pretty sure I should be worried for myself right now, more than her."

"Tall, hot,  _and_  smart. Lucky me."


	15. Look, Lady... Steph/Brock Rumlow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Now this is quite the challenging prompt! Many thanks to ff.net user copperspider005 for providing it to me; I love the opportunity and encouragement to push myself!

_**Brock's POV** _

Fucking Captain America just couldn't stop asking questions, even when he was told to. So then Nick Fury had to go and try to create a parallel mission to appease Rogers's curiosity while leaving my deep cover mission intact. Of course, not wanting to piss off the super soldier irreparably, Nick had allowed Steve to completely burn SHIELD to the ground before disappearing off the face of the earth and pretending he was dead, leaving my cover intact. Which would be great if my mission, wasn't now just continuously running into Captain America's. And today I hadn't managed to dodge out of his way.

I was standing in an alley with my back to a wall, and a very, very pissed off super soldier in front of me. One who thought I'd tried to kill him and was willing to let millions of innocent people be murdered for no fucking reason other than that they were in some nazi scums' way. I'd had a plan. Even when I ordered those helicarriers to be launched, I'd known that they weren't going to do what HYDRA had intended. I had a false interface being shown at SHIELD headquarters, but my only contact other than Fury was off site with the self destruct codes already running. As soon as the first carrier had tried to strike, they would instead self-combust.

It would have worked, but Captain America broke in, told everyone I was HYDRA, and I had to try like hell to get out of there without getting killed by SHIELD agents or caught in the cross-fire. And when I'd run into Wilson, I'd had no way of knowing whether or not he was SHIELD or HYDRA. My only hope had been to knock him out for long enough that I'd be able to make my way out of the building and find my contact. He would be able to redeem me, but I'd been delayed for days when the building and one of the helicarriers fell on top of me.

I didn't hold it against Barton that he'd had to move on, assuming I was dead. I had missed our rendezvous point, and he had no way of knowing that I was being saved rather than dead in a pile of rubble. When I'd gotten free of where HYDRA, still thinking I was one of their own, had gone through inhuman processes to save me, there'd only been one thing in my mind. Complete the mission.

Because there was a possibility, ever so slight though it was, that if I completed my mission, Captain America would spare me. But I'd yet to complete the mission, and here The Captain was which could only mean one thing. I had come so close; I probably would have only needed one more day. "Would" didn't matter now, I was a dead man.

Slowly, I put my hands up and laced them behind my head. Then I dropped to my knees, planning to lay down on the ground on my belly. Maybe Captain America would ask questions first, and I'd be able to convince him. Make him understand. Before I could hit the ground completely, an angel of mercy swooped down in front of me between Rogers and I. Barton landed nimbly on his feet and stood, hands up, but in a stance clearly meant to protect me by fighting if he needed to.

The Captain stopped his forward progress, clearly baffled, and I began to feel just a little bit of hope.

"Cap, you gotta listen to me before you do something you  _will_  regret. Because I promise you, Rumlow isn't who or what you think he is."

"I'm listening," Rogers said slowly, but still sounding completely enraged and like he was on a very thin edge.

"I had a mission, one that was completely dark and no one, and I mean no one, other than Fury knew about. And he didn't have a single thing written down for it, no records that made it into Tasha's little file dump, which is probably why he let that happen. In fact, officially those files had me still on temporary disability due to mental anguish after The Battle of New York with no expected date of return to the field."

Looking more and more impatient, Rogers said through gritted teeth. "What was your mission?"

"We had a new Avenger to find, unbrainwash, and bring to the team. Bucky Barnes. But he'd fallen into some pretty bad hands, so Brock was deep cover. I was his handler and only backup."

"Millions of people could have died because he," Rogers pointed at me, "launched those helicarriers."

"Those computers at headquarters were playing a glorified video game- I picked up a lot of tricks through the years partnered with Natasha, and I stole one of Stark's hacking bugs when we were all in the Tower those couple of days between the Battle and us sending Loki back to Asgard. We had them on a self-destruct course, and they never would have fired."

"But, I asked Nick if he knew about Bucky, and he said no."

"Well, shit, Rogers! Fury lied. Fury ALWAYS lies! When will you figure that out? All he does is speak in riddles and play the world's most fucked up game of chess in his head against I don't know who the hell! Though this time I think it was because he didn't want to get your hopes up by promising you that your best friend was still alive and well after seventy years if he couldn't deliver."

Finally looking at me again, Rogers studied me carefully. "If you found him, how were you going to fix him?"

"There was a code phrase programmed into him. One they never used because it would take him all the way back to the Bucky he was when he fell off that cliff. The one who fought them every way he could and they'd have to try to break him all over again. But in the time since they'd broken him the first time, they'd enhanced him so much that they were afraid they wouldn't be able to break him again. So they wiped as much as they could using that machine, but they never used the code words."

Steve held his wrist up and spoke into what was presumably a comm unit. We stood there, three very tense men on the verge of battle not saying a word until a van pulled up. I saw Wilson get out of the drivers' side and open the double doors on the back. He reached in and together with Romanov pulled out a struggling Winter Soldier. When they reached him, Rogers grabbed a firm hold on Barnes and dragged him forward. For his part, Barnes looked genuinely confused by my presence mixed with the others, but didn't say anything.

They stopped inches from me and Rogers used his free hand to pull a gun and point it at my head. In the most threatening tone I'd ever heard him use, he said to me, "let's hear it then, but make it good because if you're wrong, it'll be the last thing you say."

Barton drew on Rogers in response, despite a shocked reaction from Romanov. "If it doesn't work, you take him in, take us both in Cap, but you give us a chance to figure out why."

Steve didn't say anything more, so I took the chance, saying strongly and clearly:

" _Guten Abend, gut' Nacht_

_Mit Rosen bedacht_

_Mit Näglein besteckt_

_Schlüpf unter die Deck'_

_Morgen früh, wenn Gott will_

_Wirst du wieder geweckt_

_Morgen früh, wenn Gott will_

_Wirst du wieder geweckt_ "

For a split second, I thought nothing had happened then Barnes collapsed on the ground, slipping free from Rogers. In his distraction trying to catch Bucky, Clint was able to disarm him and held two guns now, one on Rogers, and one on Romanov. Finally, Bucky started looking wildly around.

"Steve, where are we? The last thing I remember is falling out of a train and… is this a dream? What are these people wearing. What are you wearing? And what the hell kind of guns are those? Oh my God, my arm. What is this thing?"

Rogers pulled him into a hug and said, "calm down, it's going to be okay. I'll explain everything, but you're going to be okay."

Steve looked wide-eyed at Barton and I and just started nodding. Over the sobbing body of Bucky, he mouthed "thank you" and "I'm sorry" repeatedly.

Cautiously, I stood up while Barton holstered his weapons. Natasha had a smirk on her face as she walked forward and held out a hand to me, "well, you always were the best at deep cover. Glad you aren't actually on the dark side."

I grinned and looked her hand over for any of her miniature tasers and bites before shaking it. When I let go, she launched herself into Barton's arms and the two proceeded to make out with impressive fervor, especially considering that there had just been weapons pulled between them. Not wanting to look at them, or deal with the reunited brothers who were a crying pile of super soldier in front of me, I turned nervously to Wilson.

"I, uh, I'm sorry about the Triskelion thing, but I had no clue what side you were on and I needed to get out. For some reason, everyone thought I was HYDRA," I said with a small smile.

Wilson just laughed and said, "don't worry about it. From what I can tell, SHIELD was one fucked up place. As long as you check out, we're cool. And since Hawkeye is vouching for you, I'm going to guess you check out."

I was finally starting to relax when a beautiful brunette with wildly curly hair came busting through the door to the restaurant on one side of the alley. She was flushed and panting, so she'd obviously been rushing. Everyone turned to stare at her in confusion, and she just looked around briefly before pulling a gun on me.

"Brock Rumlow, Bond Enforcement, and I'm exercising my legal right to apprehend and bringing you in for failure to appear." She pulled cuffs off her belt, and I was just stunned enough for her to get them around one of my wrists before I snapped out of it.

"Look, Lady, I'm sure you get this a lot, but I really and truly have no idea who you are or what you're talking about," I said completely baffled. I mean, those were the words on my soulmark, so obviously I knew someone would say them to me at some point. But I guess I'd always assumed that I'd have been arrested and, you know, missed a court date first.

Thankfully the woman was startled enough by me saying what I assumed were her soulmark words that I was able to get free of her hold and gently pin her in my arms. Then I turned so I was shielding her with my body when, much to my surprise, everyone else had drawn on her.

"Wait, yeah." Barton said, "this one's on me. Sorry about that. Why are you protecting her from us though? Because that's a really weird reaction to someone drawing a gun on you and trying to cuff you."

"She's my soulmate," I said, disbelief clear in my voice.

Captain Rogers obviously felt better because he started laughing at that. I looked over at him, relaxing a little as I took in the fact that no one was aiming a gun at the woman anymore. "Don't worry, Rumlow, I'm sure it's nothing personal," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well fuck you, Cap. That wasn't personal!"

"What were you going to do if you caught me?"

"I didn't think our odds were good of actually capturing you, but if we had, I would have stalled HYDRA long enough for Natasha to break you out. Obviously."

"She wouldn't have-"

"Of course I would have, Cap." Natasha said, "even if it was only to question you on my own terms. But the day SHIELD attempts to arrest Captain America is definitely the day I question everything, so I would have broken you out. I mean, Jesus, you're a freaking boy scout, and you were so pissed about those hostages there was no way that was you. You're a terrible liar."

"Thanks," Cap said dryly.

The woman was watching everyone, eyes and head darting around, sometimes seemingly in different directions as she tried to take everyone in.

"I am so confused right now, but I do know I have paperwork right here," she dug into her purse, "that says you procured a bond from Plum Bail Bonds, missed your court date, and I need to take you to court."

She pulled the paperwork out with a flourish and handed it to me. I read through it before turning to Barton and saying, "Insurance fraud?! Really? That's so lame. Couldn't I have at least like robbed a bank or something?"

"Well, I didn't want them to kill you trying to bring you in."

"So, that's not real?"

"No," Barton scratched his neck awkwardly, "I was desperately trying to find ways to bring him in without blowing his cover, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I just waited for a night your cousin was drunk and snuck the paperwork in, so he wouldn't remember, betting he wouldn't say anything."

"How do you know Vinnie's my cousin?"

"Had to pick a bonds agency carefully, so I ran a check. Figured out if I made the bond low enough and tame enough, you, Stephanie Plum, would draw the file. I was willing to bet that if you managed to bring him in, you wouldn't kill him. Planted a tracker on you so I could, well track you."

"Damnit!" She dumped out her purse with flair and said, "okay, this pen one is Rangeman. And I think this one on my keys is too."

Everyone walked forward as she pushed three more suspect objects forward, "they have never had more than two on me at once that I'm aware of though, so any chance you were feeling overly cautious and put three on me?"

"Ah, no. I was self-funded here, so I put one on you, and actually I'd like it back, if possible."

Clint reached down and pulled out his, which wasn't even on the ground, but rather was a patch he'd stuck inside the inner zipper compartment of her purse. Which meant there were three trackers, because I picked each up off the ground and she was right they were trackers, that remained unidentified. She picked up her phone and made a call verifying that she'd identified the two trackers correctly.

"Well, not to be that person, but, you know, if you're just a bounty hunter, why would three people be tracking you?"

She blew out a breath, "hell if I know, people stalk me for like no reason. This is hardly the first time." We all looked at her in disbelief, so she added, "seriously, search the local news archives and you'll see what I mean."

Natasha already had her phone out and was tapping the screen. A minute later she looked up at Stephanie in surprise, "you burned down a funeral home?"

We all turned back to Stephanie in unison, who looked resigned. " _Technically_ , I didn't burn down the funeral home, my grandmother did."

At that point, Clint was doubled over in laughter. When he looked up, he looked directly at me and said, "she is going to be so much trouble for you; this is going to be hilarious to watch." Then he looked down at the trackers and said, "but seriously, if no one has any idea who these all belong to, we probably should move."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The phrase that Brock says to bring Bucky back is the first verse of the original German version of Brahms' Lullaby.


	16. The F--- You Are - Steph/Fury

_**Steph's POV** _

Things had gotten more than a little weird in the world over the past couple of years, but the most recent few months exceptionally more so. First there was The Battle of New York, a day where it was even better than usual to live in New Jersey rather than New York (no matter what New Yorkers tried to say). That was a day where we found out that not only were superheros real, but so were aliens. And one of those groups was much more frightening than the other.

It seemed after The Battle, that there were more news segments, photos, and videos popping up daily of weird occurences, people with abilities, and other such things that we would once consider nonsense. Still, the stories never got all that detailed, lasted long, or really got to the point where they made actual sense. On your day to day life, you could pretend that none of those revelations had happened if you wanted to.

In the case of The Burg, the neighborhood in Trenton I was from, that seemed to be everyone's preferred method of dealing with our new world. For many, The Battle of New York was viewed as some sort of dramatic, staged scene- like a flash mob but with less dancing. Our century's War of the Worlds. There were many who felt that it was some kind of elaborate prank, and others who thought it was a government conspiracy designed to divert our attention from some other event occurring simultaneously.

Personally, I'd hopped into an SUV caravan with a bunch of Merry Men once the action was over and spent the next several days assisting with the cleanup, helping people, and yes, occasionally thwarting crimes in the neighborhoods where the police force had been decimated. I'd seen plenty to know that the action and violence had been real. Many people had died, been maimed for life, or lost everything.

We'd gotten there soon enough that I'd also seen the bodies of some of the aliens that had attacked, and believe me, they weren't fake. Their weapons were also, well, out of this world and unlike anything I'd ever seen before. It hadn't taken too long for us to realize that we were being monitored over our channels of communication within the Rangeman team (for Ranger had insisted I wear a Rangeman uniform while assisting with the Merry Men). For an organization that seemed to want to be covert, that SHIELD sure did run around in a very pushy manner with their logo painted on everything.

Still, it had mostly been useful. For instance, I would call in to the guys wanting backup as I dealt with an alien weapon cache that I'd discovered being pillaged by some drunk idiots who were definitely going to accidentally kill someone with it, and nine times out of ten before I could get help from one of my men in black, a team of SHIELD's would show up with a, "we'll handle this, ma'am", and I could be on my way to help at the next area of need.

After a week or so, we'd stopped going into New York for recovery efforts needing instead to focus on our work in Trenton as we couldn't neglect it any further. As the weeks turned into months, other than the occasional News of the Weird, things returned to normal and as I said, it began to get easier to act as though The Battle had never happened.

Then one day, SHIELD pretty much exploded in Washington D.C., with reports coming from other cities where it seemed they had secret bases. There seemed to have been some kind of secondary headquarters in New York, with many field offices throughout the tri-state area that all went down with SHIELD's fall. Files were dumped on the internet for the world to see, and I for one read as many as I could. It seemed that although SHIELD, in its roots and origins, had been an organization with a noble purpose and goal, their execution was often off. And that was thanks in no small part to the fact that they'd been poisoned from the inside for decades. How a horrible, nazi organization like HYDRA could have gone unnoticed among their ranks for so long unnoticed boggled my mind.

After that, many SHIELD operatives, standard agents, and people they were watching found themselves hunted and on the run. Not just from HYDRA and various enemies they'd made through the years who now knew where they lived, but from the government who seemed to have adopted an "arrest first, figure out what the hell was going on second" policy. Once that started happening, the life of a bounty hunter became much more… everything. Sure, I still had my usual crazies and whack-jobs, but I also started getting files with hidden ties to SHIELD and HYDRA. When it happened once, I thought it was bizarre and just a fluke. But when it happened the second time, I realized it was going to be a dangerous trend. That was when I'd taken Ranger up on his offer to be absorbed into the Bounty Hunting division of Rangman Security.

Now when I was on the streets, I had a partner and oftentimes we had backup. On this particular day, the day I met my soulmate, I had Ram as my partner. The person we were after, on behalf of the United States government seemed like a standard file. A New Jersey resident had been summoned to congressional hearings and failed to appear and a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Those types of warrants were being farmed out to certain, trusted private companies with a high frequency thanks to the strain on local and national law enforcement offices who had also been found to have HYDRA infiltration and were now short staffed.

We were looking for a man named Clifford Bardon, and had traced him to a family farm in Hope Township, New Jersey. It was on a property just shy of 200 acres, and because my spidey sense was going off and we'd be so far from the Trenton headquarters, my partner of the day, Woody, and I were bringing lots of backup. When we arrived, two thirds of us approached the house, and the rest of men took the large barn area.

As I rounded a corner, on the second floor, gun and flashlight out, I spotted the man in question.

"Clifford Bardon, put your hands on your head," I shouted, loud enough that I knew backup would hear me on their radios and start moving in my direction as they cleared their sectors. The man was looking me straight in the eyes and he somehow managed to look way more dangerous and capable than he'd appeared in the files. "I am with Rangeman Securities, and on behalf of the United States government, I am ordered to bring you in for failure to appear in response to a summons. Please turn around. I will be cuffing you and transporting you to court."

Directly behind me a voice growled out at the same time I felt a gun pressed to the back of my head, "the fuck you will." I froze, really not sure how to take in the fact this is what my soulmate was referring to in the words written on my skin in black. In all likelihood, this meant my soulmate was a criminal, and I didn't know how to respond. I hadn't moved, so he growled in that same threatening voice, "lower. your. weapon. now!"

The last was barked out in a command my body automatically obeyed, and I lowered my weapon, holding it out to the side. Not turning around or wanting to make any movements that would cause my soulmate to shoot, I said, "you should know I have backup and a copy of the warrant."

I felt the gun dig into my skull a little bit harder and saw Clifford's eyes widen, leading me to believe that my words were a match to the man holding the gun on my head, and he knew their significance. Still with a gun to my head, the man behind me didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally, he commanded, "show me". Ever so slowly, so as not to startle him, I reached down and rolled up my pant leg, making sure to make it obvious I wasn't reaching for the backup piece in my ankle holster. The gun moved from my head to the back as the man squatted down behind me, removed my second gun, and traced his fingers over the words on the back of my calf in a way that caused a shiver to run up my spine.

Clifford nodded at the man and left the room, much to my dismay, but returned a moment later with a paper and a pen which he set on a bookshelf in front of me. The gun returned to my head and my soulmate shoved me forward and he said, "write it."

I had a couple of false starts because my hands were shaking so much, but I finally got them under control enough to write out my first words to him. Apparently I'd done a good enough job because the gun lowered and I heard the sound of a safety being clicked on. Slowly, I turned around and saw a tall black man wearing a full body-length black leather coat and an eyepatch. I'd seen this man before, issuing orders in New York after The Battle to the men in SHIELD uniforms.

After everything in D.C., I'd learned his name was Nick Fury, but all the reports had said that he had died. Then again, my words had almost completely faded for several hours before they'd returned bolder than ever. I licked my lips, "aren't you supposed to be, you know, dead?" Then I realized why I recognized Clifford, "And isn't your name Clint Barton, not Clifford Bardon?"

At that moment, the room suddenly became filled with bruised and bloody Rangemen being shoved in by equally bruised and battle-worn Avengers. I looked up at my soulmate and smiled softly, "well, this is complicated."

Much to my surprise, he tipped his head back and laughed before saying, "actually, I think it is convenient for us if we can convince you all to help."


	17. Who is this and how did you get this number? - Steph & JARVIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steph & JARVIS (platonic) and Steph/Steve (romantic)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Steph/Brock wasn't quite up a lot of your alley's, and that's fine. As I said, I'm happy to fulfill requests when they come in, which Steph/Brock was, and I'm enjoy pushing myself with this series of oneshots. Hopefully this is more your speed if you didn't enjoy the last one!

 

_**JARVIS's POV** _

Among all of the various communications avenues into and out of Avengers Tower, there were standard Stark Industries business lines, Avengers business lines, and Avengers personal lines. All of which I monitored passively for intrusions and taps, but also, where the SI lines were concerned, I identified possible moles and employees with ill intentions. No matter how thorough our background checks were or how frequently we randomly refreshed them, there was always the possibility of someone slipping through those cracks. So I'd studied and learned about criminal psychology and the types of patterns that would help be identify problems.

On a completely separate server and set of protocols, I monitored a set of secure, untappable, untraceable, encrypted lines that were meant for use by any of the card-carrying members of the Avengers or a select few protégé in an emergency. If a call came into one of those lines, I was to divert as many of my resources as necessary to solving the problem and immediately call all the Avengers present and accounted for to Assemble.

So when one of the lines rang one day, when all those people were present in the Tower were present, I immediately called the Assemble even as I answered the phone even as I started trying to trace the call origin. "Who is this, and how did you get this number?" On the other end, I heard a swift intake of breath. When no response came, I tried again, "hello?"

I watched on my cameras as the team scrambled into the war room, changing into uniforms in their set cubes then stepping back out to start layering on weapons and other gear. I piped the audio in to follow them as they prepared. Finally a female voice that sounded more than a little traumatized said, "a man gave me a card a couple of years ago after I helped him out. It had written on it, 'call in an emergency,' so that's what I did."

That was interesting because those words were written in a text file that neither Mr. Stark nor I had been able to delete from any instance of my server. In fact, once it had appeared, even when Mr. Stark tried to rollback to previous backups, and the file would magically appear again. And no matter what theme Mr. Stark's current IDE was using, the text was always grey. Eventually we'd given up our efforts, and Mr. Stark had jokingly put it in a folder called "platonic". Then he'd left it alone and I would have thought he'd forgotten about it if it weren't for the way he'd stiffened when he heard those words.

"JARVIS, is that the first thing she's said to you?"

"Yes, sir." I answered while continuing my search. To the woman on the line I said, "who are you and who gave you this number?"

"My name is Stephanie Plum, I'm a bail bonds agent. The man didn't introduce himself. For that matter, he didn't say anything at all. And I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think he might have been Captain America? It was a month or so after the Battle." On the monitor of the war room I could see everyone shift to look at Captain Rogers, but the woman continued, "oh never mind, this was stupid. I shouldn't have called. I'll figure something out, maybe Ranger will find me."

She disconnected the call, and it was as though someone had dumped ice water on Captain Rogers because he shook himself off. He started running to what the team referred to as the War Room, and I called the Command Center.

"JARVIS! Call her back!"

"Who is this woman, Cap?" Agent Barton asked.

"Well, she's JARVIS's platonic soulmate," Mr. Stark said when Captain Rogers didn't answer immediately.

Captain Rogers looked mildly surprised at that information, but it was Mr. Wilson who said, "I didn't know that was possible."

"Haven't you learned not to assume anything is impossible yet?" asked Agent Romanov.

"She's my romantic soulmate," Captain Rogers said quietly, and everyone immediately shut up.

"I thought, Peggy." Barnes replied.

"She was. Before I went into the ice, but when I woke up, her words had turned grey and I had a new set in black." Everyone sucked in a breath but no one spoke, "I woke up and it was like everyone I knew, including Peggy had died that day. I met this woman, Steph, I guess is her name, though I didn't know that until just now when I was almost back to Manhattan after my road trip after the Battle. She said my words and I just. I wasn't ready. Then I didn't know who she was or how to find her."

Captain Rogers's voice cracked and he punched a wall causing everyone to wince simultaneously.

"Where were you, Cap? How did you meet?" Agent Barton pressed for details.

"I was in New Jersey; I think it was Trenton?" I immediately started a search for Stephanie Plum in Trenton, New Jersey and cross referenced it with the word "Ranger." At the same time, I was trying, unsuccessfully, to call back the number that had called. She wasn't answering, but I could trace the signal. I just needed a few more minutes. Captain Rogers continued, "I'd stopped to grab a bite to eat at a sub shop called Pino's and someone recognized me. People started talking, like they do before they raise a big fuss, so I decided to make a run for it. I threw more than enough money to cover the bill on the table, and rushed out the door straight into that woman. She hit the ground, but before I could say anything, she asked me if  _I_  was alright. When I realized they were my words, I just couldn't…"

"So you gave her the card I gave you, but didn't say anything. She obviously recognized you, but didn't know who you were to her," Mr. Stark said it quietly and in a tone that could almost be considered soothing. I was proud of the growth he'd shown since joining the Avengers even if I did sometimes still worry about some of his actions and decisions.

Captain Rogers just shook his head but didn't respond.

"Excuse me, but I may have something," I displayed all the information I found on the boards. And by the time I was done, I was already dialing Rangeman Securities. When someone answered, I entered the codes I'd dug up to have my call directly routed to the boss himself.

"Yo."

"Is this Mr. Carlos Manoso?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"Do you know of a woman named Stephanie Plum?"

"Who is this, and where do you have her? If you have hurt a hair on her head, I will hunt you down and make you pay."

"She contacted us, looking for help and we're trying to locate her. I'm sending a team toward Trenton now." I watched as the Avengers strode onto the jet, and continued. "I am JARVIS, AI for Tony Stark."

"Iron Man? Try again, Steph wouldn't have his number."

"She never mentioned meeting Captain Rogers?"

"No." I filed that information away for later analysis.

"At their current speed, the team will be in Trenton within minutes. And I've just gotten a lock on her location," I said while sending the coordinates to the jet and simultaneously reading them off to Mr. Manoso. Each member of the team was listening intently as Mr. Manoso explained the situation to us. Apparently Ms. Plum had found herself on the local mob boss's bad side and the location in question belonged to one of their known dens.

Mr. Manoso's team made it to the location in question within twenty minutes, but Captain Rogers had already infiltrated the compound. I watched through Captain Rogers's uniform camera as he approached the crumpled body of a woman on chained to a pipe in the corner of a basement. Next to her was a smashed phone, and if it was possible, I would have held my breath as I waited. The camera shifted as I assumed Captain Rogers shifted onto his knees next to her. His hand reached out and stroked through her hair, and I had pretty much every angle possible as the rest of the team gathered around a respectful distance away.

As Captain Rogers's shaky hand fumbled, trying to find a pulse, the woman's eyes opened. She groaned softly and then gasped when she took in Captain Rogers in front of her. From what I gathered, most people found his presence in full uniform to be intimidating, so I assumed that was the cause. From Mr. Stark's camera, I could see the broad smile that came across The Captain's face. Captain Rogers opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Finally Mr. Barnes walked up and smacked him on the back of the head. Captain Rogers licked his lips and said, "hi there, Sweetheart, I'm sorry I didn't say anything last time, but you scared me."

I watched Captain Rogers's camera as Ms. Plum's eyes dilated to surprising size before she responded, "but you're here now?"

It was definitely more question than answer, and the Captain knew it because he responded, "yeah. I'm ready now."

"Great. One problem though? I think I have a concussion because I'm seeing at least three of you," she slurred out. Then she leaned forward and vomited all over Captain Rogers's uniform and shoes before passing out.

"JARVIS," Mr. Stark said inside his suit.

"I have already called an ambulance and Mr. Manoso says he has an army field medic on staff. They are on their way in now."

"Thanks, JARVIS. We'll keep an eye on her until we can transport her back to the Tower. I assume you'll be able to monitor her and already have our trauma staff on notice to come in."

"Yes, sir."

"And in the meantime-"

I cut him off to add, "I've already ordered a new uniform; it will be delivered for Captain Rogers by morning."


	18. You Lack Conviction - Steph/Coulson

_**Steph's POV** _

There were days that bounty hunting was a fun job I couldn't dream of moving away from. Days where the skips were easy to find, came with me politely, and I made it through the end of the day without having anything gross come in contact with my body, my car blown up, or anyone shooting at me.

Then there were the days where I thought again about that personal products plant or the ten thousand other lame jobs that my mother was always trying to convince me to take. Those were the days where I found myself covered in petroleum jelly and flour, I had about a dozen scratches in my body from barbed wire, my car was on its way to car heaven, and I still didn't have the skip I'd been after in custody. Add in the feeling I'd had all day that I was being observed, and well, I was cranky as fuck when I slammed into my apartment to clean up before hitting the streets again.

Lunch, it was only lunch, and my bank balance was low enough that I knew better than to seriously consider calling it a day and trying again tomorrow. I'd need to bring in skips today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of the week if I wanted to be able to continue my boycott of eating at my parents' house. And I really did want that.

Figuring my likelihood of at least being found if something went horribly wrong was high given that I was borrowing a Rangeman SUV, I flipped through my files and brought out good old Lonnie Dodd. Really, I was doing him a favor because if Ranger went after him, Lonnie would get his ass beat. Ranger did not like people who shot him and truthfully I think he still held just a tiny bit of a grudge over the fact that the incident had involved my gun that Ranger had bought for me.

I always found it a little bit of a mixed bag when I found and had to approach skips in public. On the one hand, I knew the odds that the apprehension was going to end in my kidnapping were pretty low. On the other hand, it made me nervous to have to worry about civilian safety. But if I was out looking for someone who would recognize me, and the repeats always did, the matter was usually taken out of my hands. They would do something in response to seeing me, knowing why I was there, and I would  _have_  to respond. In this case, I'd stopped at the store by Lonnie's place for a couple packages of Tastykakes in case I had to stake him out for too long.

I would admit that I had seen Lonnie much too late, and that I probably should have expected him to see me and become instantly paranoid that Ranger was nearby and might want to hurt him. I'd heard chatter pick up around me among the gossipers on my way out of the store. And I'd gotten distracted trying to hear what they were saying about me this time so I'd know what to expect when my mother started leaving messages later. Unfortunately, my distraction gave Lonnie a window of opportunity and I didn't see him until he was upon me. This time, we  _both_  had guns to start, so at least he wouldn't be stealing mine.

"Put the gun down, Lonnie," I said drawing my, thankfully legal these days, gun in response. "I'm taking you into court to reschedule, and you're not going to get away."

I suppose Lonnie realized that he'd be in a lot more trouble if he shot me in broad daylight outside of a grocery store but, I was still surprised when he pulled a knife and threw that at me, barely scratching my arm in the process. I was relieved when it didn't sound like anyone behind me was hit because I didn't want to turn my back on Lonnie. Apparently frustrated but unwilling to shoot me still, Lonnie threw his gun, which hit the side of my face with a glancing blow. Knowing what was coming next, I was already holstering my gun when he started to run.

"Stop, Bond Enforcement," I yelled half-heartedly as I took off after him. I wasn't really sure why I felt the need to yell it when he clearly already knew who I was, but I did anyway. I'd barely taken a few steps when a man raced past me, faster than was humanly possible, and grabbed Lonnie up. The man was walking back toward me, dragging Lonnie, and I couldn't help but gape. He was a gorgeous, but also, I was at least 90 percent sure he was Captain America.

When he stopped in front of me, I stared at him blankly until he said, "do you have any cuffs?"

Unable to stop myself, I reached for them as I blurted out, "Oh, thank God. I always wondered what we'd be doing that had you asking me that. Especially because, you know, platonic, so that'd be awkward."

He opened his mouth a couple times, clearly trying to figure out how to respond before just turning Lonnie around for me, and restraining him until I had the cuffs in place.

"Steve Rogers," he said, holding a hand out to me.

"Stephanie Plum," I replied, grasping his hand in return. "Thanks for the help, I don't know why they always run."

Behind me a voice spoke up, "you lack conviction." This time I was the one who didn't know what to say as I turned and looked at the man in the suit who could not be who I thought he was because that was impossible. After a few awkward moments of silence, he continued. "In your voice, you lack conviction. Makes them think you don't mean it and you're an easy mark."

I awkwardly fumbled my skip off to Steve and sat down on the ground unceremoniously, head between my knees and trying to catch my breath that was coming out in out of control sobs. Obviously concerned and still not sure what was going on, the man squatted down in front of me while calling for someone named Jemma and waving a frantic arm.

"I didn't think you were that hurt."

I could feel the tears streaming down my face as I finally pulled myself together enough to say, "but, but, but, your words!" A small group had gathered around us and I pulled off my sweater revealing my arms bared by the tank top I was wearing under. "They faded, and I lost you before I ever found you."

Through the tears in my eyes, I watched as the words that had faded to almost nothingness slowly reappeared on my arms. The man reached out slowly, giving me an opportunity to pull away if I wanted to before he pulled me into his arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's a really long story, but I died. For a few days, and when I was brought back, I didn't have my memories. I never knew if I'd found you or not. I hoped not because no one knew who you were, but I never thought about what that must have been like for you. And I have no idea why your words didn't come back until now so you'd know I was okay."

I heard a woman's voice behind me saying, "maybe you weren't completely you again until you found her, Coulson."

I held onto him tight and sobbed into his suit jacket for I don't know how long until I heard from behind me, "Stephanie? Is that you, Baby Girl? Are you okay?"

I sucked in a breath then whispered, "I'm so so so sorry about this, but you can think of it as payback for the complex your words gave me. Thank goodness I have a skip and an excuse to get out of here." I looked at where Steve was standing a respectful distance away and he gave me a reassuring smile. I returned it but said, "and yeah, crap. You too. I'm sooooo sorry."

"Baby Girl?"

I let my soulmate help me up then pasted a smile on my face, "hi, Grandma."

"You been crying, Steph?"

"You're not going to believe this Grandma, but this is my romantic soulmate… uh?"

I trailed off and looked over at him helplessly until he supplied "Phil."

"Phil, right. Turns out he's not dead, surprise!"

"Well, ain't that a pip?" Grandma said looking him over from head to toe, "Looks like he's got a good package too. Older than you, so hopefully he's got a lot of practice and knows how to keep you happy!"

Steve made a strangled noise behind me, and Phil somehow just had an utterly bland look pasted on his face when I looked over at him, though he did squeeze my hand a bit more tightly.

"And who is this big fella back there? Isn't he the one? He looks like he can just go and go and go!"

"That's my platonic soulmate, Steve!" I rushed to cut her off. When she slithered around me and started feeling him up while he held onto my skip and tried to politely get away from her, I couldn't help but start laughing.

Phil started chuckling next to me too when Steve shot my a plaintive look. "So, can you get me Steve's autograph?" Phil asked eagerly.

"Wait… I thought you came here together? Don't you know him?"

"Yeah, but, well, I've always been a huge fan and I was so excited when I found out he was real and alive and I got to meet him. I asked him for his autograph when we first met, and apparently it was extremely awkward, and then I died before I could get it, and, well, I was scared to ask after because I didn't want to embarrass myself again."

"Huh. Okay, well, if I'm going to ask him for a favor, what do you say we rescue him from Grandma Mazur?"

A few minutes later, I managed to successfully waylay Grandma, promising I'd stop by with both men after dropping off my skip. Phil was walking us toward the rest his team so I could be introduced, and I looked over at Steve.

"So, can I have your autograph?"

Steve started laughing and said, "You could have just asked yourself, Coulson!"


	19. I Think You DID Start the Fire - Steph/Tony

_**Darcy's POV** _

"Come on, Rack, I don't want to," that was Tony Stark, of course. As if anyone else had half as much talent at giving me offensive nicknames while making them sound non-offensive. Although Barton could sometimes get close, Tony was in a league of his own.

"And I don't want you to call me that ever again, but I think the odds of either of us getting our way are quite slim," I replied. Tony wiggled his eyebrows outrageously, and I couldn't help the giggle that bubbled out. "Go get dressed!"

We continued on this vein of argument until the rest of the Avengers started filtering in already dressed for the night, since I'd called it team bonding and told them it was mandatory.

"Look! Steve's going and already dressed! Are you, Tony Stark, really going to turn down a party and be more of a fun suck than Captain America?!"

"Thanks," Steve said dryly, and I didn't even spare him a glance as Tony finally gave in and I shoved him to the staircase connecting his floor to the common floor. Satisfied that he really was going to get ready, which meant I had time to get ready, I spun back around and jumped on Steve. He was a super soldier, he could take it.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said, peppering kisses all over him. Hey, the man was hotter than anyone had a right to be, and one of my two soulmates, so I could kiss him as much as I wanted. When I pulled back, I said, "he's genuinely happy for Pepper, but he's just so sad not to have met his soulmate yet. He needs the night out, and I think drunk Karaoke is just the thing. Now, let me down, I need to get dressed!"

"You look beautiful the way you are, Darcy."

"Just one of the many reasons I love you!"

Still, I wiggled out of his grasp, and smiled when from behind me I heard my other soulmate, Bucky say, "do I get any of that?"

So, with a laugh, I jumped into his arms and laid some sugar on him before wiggling until he set me down and dashing for the elevator. I made quick work of getting ready, and dashed back into the common room. Without too much more cajoling, I managed to shove everyone into the elevator and then the limo, and we were on our way.

"Tell me again, where we're going, Darcy?"

"Karaoke!"

"Please, please tell me you rented out the whole place and we'll be doing this in private at least so I don't have to worry about YouTube videos tomorrow," Natasha grumbled.

Whatever. I was onto her, she was looking forward to cutting loose just as much as anyone else here. And I knew she was just as worried about Tony as I was.

"Almost."

"What does that mean, Lewis?" Clint asked.

"Well, they had a private party already rent out the whole place, but I was able to find out a bit about that group. They're in security, JARVIS did a full background check on them, and everything looked good, so I contacted the person who made the reservation. Turns out she's my platonic soulmate, bee-tee-dubs."

"The point, Darcy?" Bucky said without any heat as he played with my hand in his metal one.

"Right! So, they're going to split the place with us. I explained who we were and why we had concerns, so she talked her group into leaving their weapons and all except for the boss's phone in the car. Apparently there was some sort of incident, so she's making them take her and a couple of her girl friends out to blow off some steam. She says it won't be a problem to alternate songs or whatever with us."

"Oh my god, I am not drunk enough for this," Tony said in exasperation reaching into the bar and pulling out a bottle of scotch to start drinking from.

Steve looked like he was going to protest or try to get Tony to slow down, but I just shook my head. "Drunkenness is the best state for karaoke!"

"Does that mean I get a pass at participating?"

"Nope! Sucks to be you!" I said, softening the blow with a kiss.

By the time we stumbled into the place, most of us already had a healthy buzz going, and we got casual nods from the group who was already there, which the team hesitantly returned before shuffling over to the empty half of the room and spreading out in the empty seating there. Seeing a woman with curly brown hair look around before zeroing in on me before enthusiastically waving me over, I told everyone under no uncertain terms that I was calling all the shots and they'd better get up there and sing when I told them to.

I walked up to the woman and said, "I'm Darcy, are you Steph?"

"Yes!" and with that she pulled me into a hug that had my group standing up and striding forward.

"Geeze! Calm down, guys!" I yelled over my shoulder. To Stephanie I said, "sorry, about that."

"Yeah, I'm used to that," she said indicating over her shoulder at the group who had risen in response to my team's reaction.

"Dude, they all need to chill out."

"I know, right?"

On a whim I grabbed the microphone, and announced to the room, "you all need to chill the fuck out! We're all just going to have some fun that will be carefully orchestrated by Steph and I. Now, Steph, who is up first?"

To me she whispered, "We need to lighten the mood, call up Lula and tell her Lester, Bobby, and Cal will be her backup dancers."

When I made the announcement, I saw three men hang their heads while a woman dressed in outrageous spandex that was way too tight drunkenly dance her way up to the stage as Steph started the music. Sitting with Steph at the table next to the music selecting equipment, I laughed hysterically both at what was happening on stage, and the completely befuddled expression on both my soulmates faces as Lula danced around to "It's Raining Men". She seemed to favor grinding dance moves on the resigned backup dancers.

Leaning over, Steph asked, "Did Lula just break Captain America and his friend there? That wasn't my intention."

Conspiratorily I whispered back, "they're both my soulmates, and trust me when I say that they're hard to break. I do enjoy messing with them, though."

I called Natasha up to help me out, and the two of us rocked out to "Bad Reputation". Both sides were clapping and singing along by the time we finished, and Steph tipped her imaginary hat to us as everyone cheered. When I started wandering back toward her, Natasha surprised me by hanging onto my arm and joining me. Everyone was taking advantage of the pause to grab fresh drinks, when the men dressed in black started yelling out variations on "You promised, Steph!"

Natasha and I looked at her curiously as she buried her head in her hands. She just shook her head and said, "every time!"

Taking a deep breath, she selected her song, grabbed the microphone and stomped onto the stage, pointing at her team and yelling into the mic, "it wasn't my fault!"

Natasha and I read the title off the screen and I looked over at Nat wide eyed. "I thought I smelled smoke," Natasha said calmly.

As the music started, her group started laughing hysterically and she rolled her eyes but started singing, altering the lyrics from "we" to "I". It seemed like she'd given up on her group and was focusing on each member of the Avengers, trying to make them believe her. When she turned on Tony who was frozen like a deer in the headlights, it was just as she hit her altered chorus the second time:

" _I_  didn't start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world's been turning

 _I_  didn't start the fire

No  _I_  didn't light it

But  _I tried to fight it_ "

Tony was flat out gaping at her as she moved on while her team busted up laughing. When the song came to an end she turned back to her friends and said clearly into the mic, "seriously, why do you make me do this every time? It wasn't my fault; I  _liked_  that car!"

As she turned to put the microphone into the mic stand, Tony blurted out, "Least convincing version ever, I think you DID start the fire!"

I expected everyone to laugh, especially Steph, and another round of denials. Instead, Steph fumbled and dropped the microphone, causing everyone but her and Tony to wince and cover their ears at the sound of the feedback. Tony and Steph were in their own world though, as he vaulted onto the stage, and started making out with Steph right there under the spotlight.

After a few moments of stunned silence, Stephanie's friends started protesting and she pulled away long enough to call out, "he's my soulmate!"

"Did you know?" Natasha whispered at me curiously.

"I would love to be able to say yes because that would be damn impressive, but no. I had no idea. I've never seen his words, and he's never mentioned them to me."

Leaving Natasha to pick out the next song, I went over and cuddled into my soulmates, watching the newly discovered couple happily.

"I think you took his mind off Pepper. Well played, Doll," Bucky whispered.


	20. You Called Every Day for Two Years - Steph/Bruce and Steph & Tony

_**Tony's POV** _

After the Battle of New York, life had gone a little crazy for me. I was rebuilding my tower, naming it Avengers Tower, and inviting the team to move in pretty much from the falafel restaurant right after the attack. And building armor.

Somewhere in the haze of all of that, I was interacting with the others, but I didn't exactly retain all of those interactions in my mind. In fact, I wasn't proud of it, but I was in a PTSD fog that made it so I really didn't remember much of anything at all. It was when I helped Pepper pull through her own experiences with Extremis, and had the shrapnel and arc reactor removed from my body with open heart surgery, that I began to play back a lot of those interactions and put some puzzle pieces together.

Once I'd fixed myself and Pepper, I decided it was time to fix everyone else. So, I started with my science buddy, Bruce who'd stayed with me in the Tower through thick and thin. Of course, his grey "it's a stabilizing agent" and my grey, "well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the plant" pretty much guaranteed he'd help me out whenever he could.

As we were talking one day, one of those early pieces of information that I'd failed to retain suddenly came flying back into my mind. I waited until I could shake Bruce loose and queried JARVIS. "JARVIS, buddy, do you remember the call that came in for Dr. Banner the day after the Battle of New York?"

"Which call, sir, there were several."

"Woman, didn't leave a name if I recall correctly, claimed to just want to know that he was alright. I think she actually called back the next day, and maybe repeatedly after that."

"Yes, sir."

"She ever leave a name?"

"No, she did not."

"But you traced it and found out who she was anyway, didn't you."

"Yes, sir. Her name is Stephanie Plum, she resides in Trenton, New Jersey, and she called every day for two years. At various intervals, I informed Dr. Banner of her calls, but he always refused to take them. He even refused to talk to her or allow me to even confirm for her that he did, in fact, reside in the Tower."

"Huh." Then it clicked, "two years, JARV?"

"Exactly two years, sir. Then she stopped calling."

"Is she still alive?"

"Despite numerous attempts on her life, yes, she is."

"Somebody tried to kill her?"

"Kill her, kidnap her, and maim her. Various persons over numerous instances through the years. I became aware of the situation when I first investigated her, and I've kept a file of all of the newspaper articles I could find on the matter."

"Let me see them." I gestured with my hands to scatter the various virtual clippings around me, surprised by their sheer number. It looked like Miss Plum had been quite busy. I was in the common room, knowing full well that Bruce was asleep and would be for hours, but I still jumped when two someones dropped down from the air vent behind me. "You don't even have to sneak in here, so why? Just why?"

"Gotta keep you on your toes, Stark," Clint responded.

Natasha didn't react or respond in any way, just started taking in the information next to me. Eventually the rest of the team, other than Bruce, wandered in and did the same.

"This woman is seriously unlucky," Sam said.

"Needs a new job," Bucky snorted.

"Or to get some training on the one she has," Natasha added, finally breaking her silence. "Who is she, Stark? Why do we care about all this."

I held up a finger, and asked JARVIS to display her financials and every other little scrap of information he could find. Sure, I was now treading on her personal liberties quite heavily, but it had to be done, despite Cap's protests. "Two years," I pondered, "did she ever ask for anything?"

"Just to speak to him, sir."

"Speak to who?" Steve asked.

"Bruce," Natasha and I responded in unison. When I raised an eyebrow at her, she just shrugged but didn't say anything else, choosing instead to silently chew on her thumbnail.

I looked at everyone gathered around, realized that Darcy and Jane were even there. Focusing primarily on Darcy because she had a way of getting everyone to share their innermost secrets with her without realizing, I asked, "Bruce ever say anything about having a soulmate?"

Everyone except Darcy responded in the negative, and slowly they all turned to focus their attention on her. She nibbled on her lip nervously before she finally blurted out, "he has one, but he left right after meeting her because he didn't want her to be in danger because of him!"

"You mean from him," Sam said slowly.

"Both, probably," I mused. "She have a name? Do you know when they met?"

"I don't know, I'm sorry. He mentioned something one night when he was half asleep and I was pestering him to go actually sleep in his room. Something along the lines of who was I to tell him what to do when I wasn't even his soulmate. Another time he said something about how it just figured that fate would give him a platonic soulmate who could take care of himself, but a romantic soulmate who was so beautiful but too fragile to touch."

"You think this is her," Bucky asked, "why?"

"I have my reasons. JARVIS, call Happy right now, I need a ride."

"Tony, I don't know about this," Steve argued. "We don't know if this is even the right person, or if she wants anything to do with him. Not to mention that Bruce clearly doesn't want anything to do with her."

"Wake up, Captain. She called every day for two years after the Battle and she didn't ask for anything more than to know whether or not he was okay." I smacked my hand at the area where her more personal information was, "failed marriage, so probably not with her soulmate. On-again-off-again relationship with some cop, again, probably not her soulmate. Even this guy she's with in some of these photos is clearly keeping his distance from her. She seems like someone trying to move on but unable to do so! And in all of these pictures, do you see anything even approaching a genuine smile? She wants him. And I know Bruce; I know he's lonely. He thinks he can't have her because he can't keep her safe, but we've all seen the kind of control he has over himself these days. Anything else, we'll help him with. I'll build her some armor to match Pepper's if that's what it takes, but I can't just let two people hurt like this without trying to make it better."

I strode onto the elevator to the sound of their stunned silence and went to the basement. I gave Happy the address and then settled into the seat with my tablet and began making arrangements. When I called Pepper and let her in on the situation, I was shocked to find that she was completely on board with the plan. Then again, Bruce was both of our platonic soulmate, and we were each missing one more and I knew she was excited by the idea of it being a woman who was Bruce's romantic soulmate. Especially when she heard the part about two years.

Arriving at a rundown apartment building in Trenton, I walked up to the third floor and knocked. When she didn't answer and I had no clue how long she'd be, I went ahead and let myself in. A couple hours later, the woman from the pictures walked in, tensed immediately, then relaxed a little when she saw me and recognition filled her eyes.

We stared at each other in silence for a minute before I decided that, as the trespasser, I should speak first. "You called every day for two years," I paused as she inclined her head in acknowledgement of the fact. "Why'd you stop calling?"

She looked at me, more than just a little heartbroken and shrugged her shoulders. "Because it had been two years." I stood up and held my hand out to her, showing her the words she had just spoken. As she reached out to shake my hand, she flashed me my words on her hand. When I didn't let go of her hand after we shook, she looked up at me with those sad eyes. "It had already been a decade since I'd seen him, and after two years, I figured I was beyond pathetic. Plus, your words said 'two years,' so I thought I'd at least get my platonic soulmate out of the whole mess if I stopped then."

"He's okay," I said softly, amazed by the relief I saw in her eyes. "Do you want to see him? I'll take you to him right now."

"I think he clearly doesn't want to see me, Mr. Stark."

"It's Tony, and he's my other platonic soulmate. Trust me, he does, but he's scared of losing you, so he's being an idiot and thinking it's easier to just not have you." When she still hesitated, I looked at her desperately, "Please, just trust me. It might not be easy, but it'll be worth it. He's a great guy."

A soft smile crossed her face and she simply said, "I know he is." Then she picked her purse up from where she'd dropped it on the counter and walked back to the door, opening it and waiting for me.

Our ride back to Manhattan was filled with nervous chatter on Stephanie's part, and jokes on my end to try to put her at ease. I also explained to her the set-up we had going, and who JARVIS was and how he'd found her. When I guided her into the elevator, I simply said, "JARVIS, where's Bruce?"

"He and the rest of the Tower residents are eating dinner on the common floor."

When the elevator finally reached our destination, I stepped out, holding the doors open, not that JARVIS would shut them with Steph inside anyway, but figuring I'd make the gesture. Patiently I waited while Steph took one step outside and JARVIS quickly, but neatly, shut the doors and whisked the elevator away before she could change her mind. Everyone was watching eagerly, until Bruce, who was sitting with his back to us finally turned around.

His jaw dropped open, and I saw him mouth the word "Steph." Then he was moving faster than I'd ever seen his human form move, tripping over his chair and leaving it on the ground. He pulled to a stop about a foot away from her, eyes still wide, as he looked her over head to toe. Finally, he took another half step closer and reached a hand out running his fingers along her cheek. "It's really you, after all these years. You're okay?"

Steph smiled shakily and said, "are you going to make me leave?"

That seemed to be the thing that finally broke through to Bruce, and he pulled her fiercely into his chest, and murmured, "no, I'm not strong enough to do that again. I'll find a way to keep you safe; you just… you can't leave me again."

"I never wanted to leave you the first time," she responded with a crack in her voice.

"I know, I'm so sorry, but I couldn't control it then and I was on the run. I needed to get out of the country and away from everyone who was after me."

"I would have gone with you."

"I couldn't ask you to do that then, you were so young. But I'm going to ask you now, please Steph, will you stay?"

"Yes," she instantly responded.

I walked away and let them hold onto each other for a while, joining the rest of the team at the table and eating some food. Pepper and I arranged for some dinner to be sent down to Bruce's floor, hoping that the fact that we'd found no food allergies meant she didn't have any. Everyone was stealing quick glances in the reunited pair's direction and smiling occasionally, but trying to give them some privacy. When they finally broke apart, we watched Steph shakily wipe her eyes, then look around a little bewildered, almost as if she didn't remember anything leading up to that moment.

"Where am I?" she finally asked.

Bruce softly smiled at her and said, "Avengers Tower in Manhattan."

"Ah, okay. I know I said I'd stay, and I will," she rushed to reassure Bruce when his eyes widened at the start. More firmly, she said again, "I will, but I honestly didn't think this through at all after Tony offered to bring me to you, and this is all I have with me."

Bruce looked inside the purse she was holding and then did a comical double take. "What the hell, Steph?" He reached in and pulled out what looked like a six-shooter, a stun gun and a taser, pepper spray, and a couple sets of handcuffs out of the purse.

"I'm, uh, a bounty hunter now?"

"You were in school getting a degree in business!"

"Yeah, that didn't really work out for me, but my cousin had a bonds office. A little well placed blackmail and, bam! Bounty hunter!" There was an awkward pause while Bruce tried to process the information and Steph shrugged, "I'm not all that great, and my methods are unconventional, but I always get my man."

Bruce laughed incredulously, and then just put the weapons back in her purse. Cautiously, he slid an arm around her face, and I saw what might have been the biggest smile I'd ever seen on him break across his face when she sighed and leaned into him. I was on the receiving end of another, grateful, smile as Bruce guided Steph toward the group of us.

Pepper was bouncing around enthusiastically, and finally wasn't able to restrain herself anymore. She leapt forward and met them halfway, "hi Stephanie! Welcome home, we're so glad to meet you!"

"I always wondered how someone I just met could welcome me home, even if she was my platonic soulmate," Steph said with a smile.

Pepper let out a shriek of delight and pulled Steph into a hug, then grabbed onto her arm and walked her over and introduced her to everyone before taking her back to Bruce.

"We sent dinner down to your apartment, Bruce." Pepper informed him, and then turned back to Steph, "let JARVIS know anything you need and he'll see that it is brought to you as soon as possible. We sent a few clothes of Natasha's as well, so those should fit you well enough. Have a good night, and tomorrow we'll organize everything else. And go shopping!"

Steph looked a little overwhelmed, but just nodded gamely and smiled up at Bruce again as they got onto the elevator.

Once the door had closed, Steve was the first to say, "you did good, Stark." Without a doubt, I knew bringing those two back together would be one of the things I was most proud of doing in my entire life.


	21. What Did He Do To YOU? - Steph/Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've gotta put a cupcake warning on this one- if there are any Morelli fans, just go ahead and skip this one. I'm trying not to make too many of these Steph/Steve, but they just keep popping up! ) This one is for Amanda! As always, accepting more prompts. I think I've caught up on all the ones I have, but if I'm missing yours, just send me a little reminder!

_**Steve's POV** _

When Natasha, Fury, Hill, Sam, and I uncovered HYDRA growing within SHIELD, it didn't take too long in the aftermath to find that HYDRA had infiltrated almost every level of government and law enforcement to varying degrees. I was sure that it would all make an interesting case study one day for people who studied that kind of thing to figure out how it was that HYDRA was able to grow and thrive in some situations but not in others. But in the meantime, it was just a problem.

Natasha and Fury both took some time after D.C. to cover their own asses, but also to root out those people they could trust to have their backs as they began to work on taking HYDRA down once and for all. Each had politely given me time to track down Bucky, and try to bring him back. Of course, much to my surprise, once he'd let me find him, I found out he'd already recovered himself. That made the transition much easier back to fighting HYDRA, and Bucky had been more than willing to assist in that mission.

Natasha and Tony had worked together, while constantly bugging Bucky for any insider knowledge they thought might still be useful, to develop an algorithm of sorts. I may not be confused by technology anymore, but I wasn't a hacker or a computer programmer. Using their algorithm, we were able to rank HYDRA hotspots in order of attack priority. They were able to hack into some of HYDRA's lines of communication, so the order was variable from day to day. Something might be the number one priority one day, only for JARVIS to discover overnight that HYDRA had abandoned the facility, so it moved down lower on the list. Or we passed them on to a smaller team for information recovery.

When Trenton, New Jersey had popped up on the middle of the list, everyone had made some jokes about New Jersey. As it continued to hold strong on the list, the jokes became fewer. Well, the jokes from everyone but Tony became fewer. Not much could stop Tony from joking, even HYDRA. We slowly crossed things higher up off the list, and one day we found ourselves sitting there with Trenton, New Jersey in the number one spot.

In some ways, it was the cases like this Trenton one that pissed me off the most. From all accounts, Trenton had always had a crime problem, but the more we looked into it, the more that seemed to be largely HYDRA's doing. HYDRA had liked the idea of having somewhere so close to a major city like New York under their control because it made supporting NYC operations much easier for them. But, the level of their infiltration would be too obvious if there weren't other common crime situations to cover up their more nefarious practices.

So, HYDRA had brought in and bolstered the city's gangs, often sending men into the inside and using them to start gang wars if things got too quiet. And just in case that wasn't working, HYDRA also had men inside the mob. But of course, all of that wasn't worth anything if you had your inside men getting caught, so HYDRA had infiltrated the courts, the jail, the prosecution's office, and the local police department.

Given their goals, it wasn't much of a surprise that their particular areas of focus within the police department were Guns & Gangs, as well as Homicide. Those two units could pretty much play a trump card and take over anything they deemed to be under their purview. If they controlled enough of those two departments, especially the detectives investigating the cases, they could pretty much guarantee that they had any case they wanted covered up.

Heck, HYDRA had even gone so far as to put its people in the fire department as part of the arson investigation team. The only area they didn't seem to have completely under their thumb was the government because they'd failed to get the mayorship. I hoped that Juniak guy had a security team he really trusted, otherwise that was probably only a matter of time, especially once we started moving.

Over the next couple of days, we studied file after file to prepare ourselves for the task in front of us. Eventually we decided on a strategy that involved calling in some state and federal forces we could trust and dividing and conquering to take down as many hot spots as we could at once. My part had been helping with collecting those who were doing HYDRA's work from within the gangs because that job had the highest chance of putting up a really big fight with civilian casualties. Despite all our concerns, it had gone well, and I was on my way back to the restaurant we were using as a command center when I noticed a woman and a man struggling in an alley.

"You're coming with me, Cupcake, and that's final!" The man was yelling and had what looked like it was probably a painfully firm grip on the woman's arm.

"For the last time, Joe, I'm not going with you wherever you're going! We broke up  _months_  ago, and I don't want anything more to do with you. Now let go of me."

I mentally flipped through my list of suspects and realized this was Detective Joe Morelli of the Trenton PD. We were fairly certain he was highly ranked in the local HYDRA contingent and wanted to bring him in for questioning.

Slowly, I approached, hands out to the side to show I wasn't armed and addressed the man, "the lady says she doesn't want to go with you, so just let her go."

"She doesn't know what she wants; still thinks she's going to meet her soulmate one day and live happily ever after." He turned to the woman as he pulled out his service weapon, "Sorry, Cupcake, but you're mine soulmates or not. And you will come with me now."

I watched in horror as he reared back and pistol-whipped her in the face. That was when I lost my cool and tackled him, quickly disarming him before starting to pummel him with my fists. Eventually I felt the cool metal of Bucky's arm reach down and pull me away from the man. Sam reached forward and pulled him to his feet because I was very careful. I'd made him hurt, but that was it. Men who were dead or unconscious couldn't talk, but men who were scared talked more easily.

I straightened fully and turned back to the woman, expecting to see her upset or cowering. Instead she had a big grin on her face, so I stepped toward her. I grabbed a handkerchief out of my pocket and pressed it to where her cheek was bleeding, carefully prodding to make sure it wasn't broken as she said, "God damn, what did he do to you? I mean, I know what he did to me, but what did he do to you?"

Raising a brow in response I said, "apparently he tried to take my soulmate away from me before I even got a chance to meet her."

It took a lot to surprise Bucky, but I was pretty sure we would have managed to do so even if she hadn't pulled my head down to hers and started a full blown make-out session right there in the alley.

A few minutes later, I heard Natasha's husky voice chastise, "I don't know who this is, Rogers, but at least help her stop the bleeding before you do that. She's getting blood all over you both. And geez, maybe get her some ice, as far as I know, your super healing isn't contagious, so you aren't helping her any." I'd barely registered what she said, but I heard Bucky explain the situation to Natasha. She let out a sigh then said, "fine, five more minutes, but after that we really have to get this show on the road. Still a lot of cleanup to do!"


	22. MIB - Steph/Fitz and Steph & Simmons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is a soulmate AU anyway, right? So I decided to really AU this one because Agents of SHIELD is throwing me way off these days, but I wanted to do a double prompt fill this weekend. So, that being said, you can assume that everything that happened in Season 1 of Agents of SHIELD happened, but Fitz is recovered and most of what’s happening in this back half of Season 2 isn’t going on. If you have no idea what Agents of SHIELD is, then don’t worry about it. Everyone good? Alright, carry on then.

_**Steph's POV** _

I had seen a lot of things in my time as a bounty hunter in Trenton. And I really didn't think it could get much weirder than the monkey humping Brenda's hair on TV or the giraffe that we'd seen wandering the streets of the city. Or the old man who thought he was a vampire.

I should have known better. I'd captured my skip, Samantha Byrd, outside of an oversized abandoned warehouse. As she was smaller and even more out of shape than me, it had actually been an easy capture. Everything seemed fine until she started screaming out about how she couldn't go to jail because then who would feed Dino? She seemed so incredibly upset, and I knew her sentence was likely to be more along the lines of community service than actual jail time, so I'd quickly reassured her that I would feed Dino. Gathering that Dino was inside the warehouse, I took her inside to show me where his food and other gear was.

In hindsight, I suppose the name should have been a hint as to what I was going to find inside. Unable to believe my eyes, I'd pinched myself repeatedly until my arm was bright red and I was convinced that no, I wasn't dreaming. Finally pulling myself out of the stupor, I'd grabbed my phone from where it was clipped onto my belt.

"Yo."

"Hey, Ranger…" I started, admittedly shakily and not really sure what I should even say. "You remember that organization that went caput a few months ago… name was some kind of weapon. Turned out they were infiltrated by evil nazis or something like that?"

There were a few beats of silence, then Ranger finally said, "yes." It was said in such a cautious tone that I knew Ranger knew more about the situation than that, and also was concerned about why I would even bring them up. The first part made me feel a bit of relief… maybe they were still around in some capacity and that would probably be for the best.

"Well, if you have any contacts that can handle their type of thing, could you get them to my current location? I'm standing here looking at something that, well, I don't believe myself and I'm staring at it. But I think it might be right up their alley."

"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, do you have a skip with you?"

"Yes, Samantha Byrd. Apparently she is much crazier of a scientist than we realized."

"Alright, are you safe?"

I eyed the sight in front of me and put my hand over the phone. Turning to Samantha, I said, "I promise to take care of Dino, but can… he?... get out of there on his own?" She shook her head, still crying over the impending separation. Uncovering the phone, I told Ranger, "yep, I'm safe."

"Okay, we're short staffed right now with the flu. Bring your skip and paperwork out to the curb and Woody will swing by to transport and get your receipt. Then, just wait for someone to show up and help you out. You'll know them when you see them."

True to Ranger's word, Woody popped up a short time later and wordlessly shackled Samantha into the back, grabbed the paperwork I held out to him, tipped his hat to me, and drove away. I guessed Ranger told him not to ask any questions.

Unable to help myself, I'd gone back into the warehouse and sat a good distance away from the massive cage that filled up most of the space. Eventually, I heard movement outside and opened the loading doors just as some big black SUVs drove up. They pulled forward into the warehouse, and I went ahead and shut the door behind them. Nothing happened for a couple minutes, and I figured whoever was inside was getting over that same initial reaction of shock that I'd had. Finally, a man stepped out of one SUV dressed in a suit and asked, "you're Stephanie Plum?"

I nodded my head, and he nodded back in satisfaction then started barking orders. The rest of the doors for both SUVs opened and people came out and started following those orders. One man who seemed to be at least five years younger than wandered in my direction, and I assumed he was the "Fitz" who had been ordered to "just get over it and go talk to her" where I was the "her". When he made it to my side, he seemed extremely uncomfortable and awkward.

Unable to take the suspense anymore I said the first thing that came to mind, "That's totally a dinosaur, so does that mean you're going to go all MIB on me?"

A smile lit up his face and he let out what definitely sounded like a relieved laugh, "absolutely not because that would mean my soulmate wouldn't remember me." It was said almost like a question, and his smile kicked up even more when I released one of my own. Without a word, I just reached up and pulled him down for a gentle kiss.

Pulling back, I said, "hi, I'm Stephanie Plum."

"I'm Leo Fitz," he replied. Then he looked behind me and said, "that's not really a dinosaur though, right?"

"I honestly have no clue; this is as close as I've gotten. I called someone who I thought might have connections better prepared to deal with this. There was a crazy scientist woman who missed her court date, I was getting ready to take her into jail when she started rambling about someone needing to feed Dino. I figured, you know, a big dog, but that's what I found."

His face turned eager as he grabbed onto my hand and said, "well, let's find out."

It hadn't taken very long for them to knock Dino out, and when we approached the fence, no one seemed to be surprised to find Leo holding my hand. Then again, I suppose if they knew his words said something about a dinosaur, they'd probably all known as soon as they pulled up. Hell, maybe those two minutes they'd stayed in their SUV had been so they could run a check on me, rather than being shocked.

There was a woman about my size who'd already stepped into the cage with the unconscious dinosaur, and was examining it. She had a flashlight in one hand and was holding an eye open with the other so she could shine the light in. Really the eyes reminded me a bit of a cat. I was surprised when Fitz pulled me with him into the cage, and I couldn't help myself from saying to the woman as I approached, "wow, you're just like all up in there. Why aren't you afraid?"

The woman stopped what she was doing to look up at me, blinking in surprise. Next to me, Leo said, "but she's my best friend."

I didn't get the problem until the woman responded, "truthfully, it's not the weirdest or most frightening thing I've seen or done. I mean, it is unconscious."

"Hey, you're my platonic soulmate! And you two are best friends? How great is that! Don't worry, Leo, I promise to share!"

"Don't worry, Fitz," the woman said, "just think of all the inside information I'll be able to give you."

She waved at me awkwardly with her gloved hands and introduced herself as Jemma Simmons before happily turning back to the creature in front of her.

I wasn't overly concerned because she seemed nice and like she'd probably be able to balance the two of us out nicely and help us keep the peace. After all, I was pretty sure I was way more outgoing than Leo (who seemed to go by Fitz) was himself.

The man in the suit who'd been the first to get out of the SUVs when they arrived and seemed to be in charge sidled up next to me. "We're not going to wipe your memory, but I hope we can count on your discretion, Ms. Plum? Especially since I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of each other down the road?"

"Sure thing, Leo's Boss. I mean, it's not like anyone would believe me even if I did try to tell them about this anyway. I'm assuming that the discretion extends to you lot as well though, and I promise. Your secret is safe with me as long as I get to see Leo and Jemma."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steph/Fitz for Amarin_Rose, as requested. Dinosaur for jesslong614


	23. U Can't Touch This - Cal & Clint (platonic)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little something fun for Lynda. Hope this cheers you up!

_**Cal’s POV** _

__

For the most part, I didn’t ever regret the day that I joined Rangeman and met the crazy group of men who became brothers to me.  For the most part.  Sometimes though, I couldn’t believe the shit they got me into.  All day, I’d been practically jumping out of my skin every time Ranger started talking.  All because I’d been SO STUPID and made a wager with Lester about Steph’s most recent POS car.  

Really, if you thought about it, it was karma.  Steph had asked, nicely that we all stop betting money on when her things would blow up-- car, apartments, miscellaneous.  Reluctantly we’d agreed, but it was Lester who decided that although we’d agreed to stop betting money there were other things we could bet instead.  And the problem with brothers, whether they were actually related to you or not, was that eventually, they just knew too many of your secrets.  One too many times goofing off, getting drunk together, or sitting with you hopped up on painkillers and eventually they’d find out all the little things about you that you’d rather people didn’t know.  Secret talents either.  Secret talents from back when you were in school, didn’t know any better, and made you look ridiculous if you used them now.

And when I’d made that bet with Lester, I should have known he’d go with the low blow.  The thing that wouldn’t actually hurt me… until it made Ranger call me onto the mats.  Because, when this happened, and it would happen soon.  Today, the day I’d lost, or tomorrow at the latest, I was sure of it, I had no doubt that I was getting called to the mats.  

As soon as Ranger started his lecture while we all waited outside on the clearing in the forest Ranger had taken us to for today’s training mission, I knew I was fucked.  It seemed Ranger had a platonic soulmate he hadn’t told anyone about because at the time, there had been various security clearance concerns.  Those were no longer valid, whatever that meant, and so Ranger’s platonic was bringing his team to train with our team for the day.  We were allowed to enjoy ourselves, but there would be no fucking around.  Then he said the words that sealed my fate.

“Lester, I’m looking at you.  Best behavior, we’re here to train and work.  I don’t want any of your crap.”

Lester started busting a gut as he said, “oh man, Boss.  I wish your platonic and his team were already here so they wouldn’t miss this.  At any rate, don’t worry, I’m all business.  But Cal looks like he has something he wanted to say.”

He looked at me expectantly, and I sighed before flipping him off.  I had no choice though because I couldn’t back out of a bet.  I started out barely audible, and Lester just said, “louder, and you have to do all of it.”

What the hell, the faster I did it, the sooner I started, the sooner it would be over.  And with any luck, Ranger’s guests wouldn’t have shown yet and it wouldn’t be as bad as it could be.  So, I added in the dance moves, exactly like MC himself used to do them, raised my voice, and continued.  I hadn’t even made it through to the second verse when I saw Ranger look behind me and put his head in his hands.

Knowing I had to finish it, even if our guests had arrived, I didn’t skip a beat, even when someone dropped out of the tree above me and started dancing in sync with me.  Turning to look at the man next to me as I started the verse.

“Fresh new kicks and pants

You got it like that now you know you wanna dance

So move out of your seat

And get a fly girl and catch this beat

While it's rollin' hold on pump a little bit

And let me know it's going on like that like that

Cold on a mission so pull on back

Let 'em know that you're too much

And this is a beat uh u can't touch”

When the song was finally over, I looked at Ranger to see how mad he was going to be, and it was looking like really pissed when the man who’d bailed me out so at least I wasn’t dancing alone threw his hand up for a high five and said, “hell yeah, I was hoping those words meant you were someone fun, and with a tattoo like that, you’ve gotta be!”

Lester just whined, “awwwww man, that was supposed to be embarrassing and you got a cool Avenger platonic out of the deal?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who may not know Stephanie Plum's world as well, the tattoo Clint references is on Cal's forehead and it is of a flaming skull.


	24. I'm Sorry I Stalked You - Sam/Steph

_**Steph's POV** _

Some days, my bizarre habit of just stumbling onto things was a problem. Most days, in fact. Largely because the things I stumbled upon were usually somewhere between moderately dangerous and outrageously dangerous. But today, what I had stumbled upon didn't have anything to do with any skips or the like. Which normally wouldn't really mean anything either because even when it wasn't skip related, the quandaries I would find myself in were still quite dangerous.

Today though, well, today it had all paid off. Because today I had stumbled across something 0% dangerous and at least 110% sexy. What was that, you may ask? Well, it was an Avenger, out in the wild. At first, I hadn't been sure it was him. After all, he was pretty new and he usually wore goggles, so he definitely wasn't the easiest to recognize. Still, I'd been close enough to sure that I'd followed him while texting frantically with Mary Lou. She was sitting at home, waiting for her kids to get off school, and trying to find good pictures of the man in question for me online so that I could better confirm that it really was him.

So that was how I spent most of my day, stalking (because I wasn't going to pretend that wasn't what I was doing) an Avenger who had stumbled his way into the Quakerbridge mall of all places for reasons unknown. He didn't really seem to have any particular goal in mind, just slowly and methodically made his way through the mall. As the day wore on, it was getting more difficult to be unobtrusive. At one point I even bought a sweatshirt and put it on, in hopes that the change of attire would give me a little bit of cover.

"Hurry up and get over here!" I texted to Mary Lou once I knew her kids and Lenny would be home. "It's definitely him. It was just hard to tell because he's even hotter in person!"

"Who's hot, Cupcake? And when are you going to come over? It's been months and the boys miss you."

Oooops, I guess I texted Morelli by accident. I thought I'd taken him out of my phone. Weird. I snorted out a laugh to myself because no way I was going to ever go over and visit Morelli or his boys again. Been there, done that, definitely not worth repeating. Anymore. I'd repeated it way more times than was advisable. Sometimes I was stubborn and didn't learn nearly fast enough. "Sorry, sent that to the wrong person, don't worry about it. No, I'm not coming over. We're done. Have been for A YEAR, Joe."

With a sigh, I resent my text, making sure it was to Mary Lou this time, adding the information about which restaurant I'd just had to follow him into and where our table was. Much to my surprise, when Mary Lou walked in she had Connie and Lula with her. She slid into the bench next to me, picked up the Happy Hour menu and said, "Lenny owes me, so he'll DD us later tonight, and I found these two in the parking lot. Figured we could use the extra cover. Now you've just been shopping all day waiting for Girls' Night to start."

I quickly caught Lula and Connie up on my day of stalking, managing just barely to keep their excited screaming down to acceptable levels where they probably wouldn't be overheard. Especially since he'd been joined by some friends who seemed quite good at hiding their faces in hats. Every once in a while, he would look my way in a manner that made me think my cover was well past blown.

When I caught him doing it again, I whispered, "he totally knows!"

"You know what you need?" Lula said. "You need one of them disguises. Bet we could make you one right quick!"

I watched, with the amusement of a lightweight who'd already drained a margarita as Lula talked the waitress out of a massive handful of straws and some rubber bands. Using those and anything else the rest of us could pull out of our oversized purses, and Mary Lou was overflowing with supplies. Ten minutes later, she triumphantly presented me with a hat made out of straws and put it on my head with a laugh.

I couldn't help it, I busted up laughing as well, even though I knew we were drawing attention to ourselves at this point. My head was buried in my hands when I heard someone clear their throat, and I looked up to see the man I'd been following all day standing at our table, eyes fixed on me.

"I'd introduce myself, but something tells me you already know who I am."

"I'm sorry I stalked you all day, I just couldn't figure out why you'd be in the Quakerbridge Mall outside of Trenton of all places!"

Without a word, he slid his shirt up revealing cut, chocolatey abs that had what I'd just said in my writing across them. With a smile, he said, "I think I can forgive my soulmate for stalking me, after all, it's how I knew where to find you and how to identify you."

My mind was a little slow from the margarita and the delicious sight in front of me, which is the only reason I could think of why I was a step behind as I replied. "Hey, that thing you said is written on me!"

His smile got a little bit wider as he said, "you don't say?"

"Yeah, I always thought you'd be an arrogant dick, so I'm glad I was wrong!"

"How do you know for sure? I mean, I know I run around with Captain America and his World War II buddy now that we found him, but I could still be an arrogant dick."

"Nah, from what I hear, that's kinda Tony Stark's role, and I doubt there could be two of those on the team without it being a major problem."

I heard a snort of laughter from the table he'd come from, and covered my mouth. "Please tell me he's not over there?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" he asked holding out a hand to me. Casting a glance around at my friends he said, "my name's Sam Wilson. You don't mind if I borrow her, do you? I'm hoping she'll at least tell me her name at some point."

"She's Stephanie Plum, and we don't mind at all, Mr. Falcon, Sir!" Mary Lou said eagerly.

"Just Sam is fine, really. You ladies have a safe way to get home, right?"

They all nodded eagerly, and I finally found myself enough to grab onto Sam's hand and crawl over Mary Lou and out of the booth. Sam caught me as I tripped clearing the table. I pulled my hat off and tossed it back to Lula before turning back to Sam and planting my lips on his. We'd barely started to get to know each other's kissing styles before I heard, "what the hell, Cupcake? Did Ranger buy a new Rent-a-Thug? You won't see me anymore, but you'll go around kissing strangers?"

The second his hand landed on my shoulder, I spun and laid him out with my fist.

"Whoa!" Sam's table was on their feet in a flash.

I was shaking out my hand when Sam grabbed it and rubbed a kiss over it. "You alright there, Stephanie?"

"Oh, just Steph. And yeah, all better now. I warned him he wasn't allowed to touch me anymore!" Then thinking about it I said, "but you know, he's a cop, so probably I'd rather not be here when he comes to."

"A soulmate who starts bar fights with cops, I like it. Come on, we'll get you all out of here if you'll let us."

Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou had already packed themselves up, and Mary Lou was handing me my purse as she said, "you all just worry about Steph. My husband's outside, and he'll get the rest of us home."

"If we don't hear from Steph tomorrow, you best believe we're going to tell everyone we know that the Avengers are kidnapping women!" Lula threatened, shaking a finger at Sam.

"And I got  _family_  you don't want to mess with," Connie said, flashing a glare at everyone around us before she strode out with the other women.

When I looked at the raised eyebrows behind me, I shrugged and said, "it's Jersey, everyone's got  _family_. Though, Connie could probably get her Uncle to raise a fuss."

Joe groaned a little on the ground, and I watched as a redhead leaned down, did something, and he stilled.

"Natasha," hissed out the man who was definitely Captain America.

"Relax, Cap. That'll just buy us a few more minutes to get Sam's soulmate out of here before he causes a problem. My guess is that if she's not here, he won't raise a fuss. Cop doesn't want his buddies to know a smaller woman laid him out like that."

"Plus, his captain said he had to leave me alone," I muttered as Sam threw an arm around my shoulder and started walking me out.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to keep me close to make sure he gets the message," Sam said with a laugh.

"You'll just have to convince me," I replied with a wink, enjoying the laughter that surrounded us. "So, what  _were_  you doing here?"

"He told me he used to always come by, but this is the first time he's been free to do so since we raised a bit of a fuss in D.C. The rest of us showed up when he told us he thought he'd found you. Guess he was right," Natasha said. "Except for Tony, lucky for you because if he'd heard your comment earlier, he would still be debating it with you, even though you were totally right."

"Huh, so you're not going to tell him I said that then, right?" I asked.

"Dunno, Doll. Depends on what it's worth to you," said the brunette man with the metal arm who'd yet to speak.

I stopped dead in my tracks and asked, "are you my platonic?"

Sam groaned and said, "you've  _got_  to be kidding me!" and Captain America just started laughing.


	25. No, Just No - Steph/Thor

_**Steph's POV** _

This was not going well. I'd lie and pretend I had a plan and everything that had happened was part of it, but that would be just that, a lie.

I was covered in… questionable substances from the fish market. They smelled, well, fishy, and I was fairly certain I could hear the pitter-patter of cat paws behind me growing in number.

Really I think the problem started when I trusted Lula to come up with the plan. She was SURE she could talk my skip out the back of the market without causing suspicion because he used to be a customer of hers. So, I'd waited in back trying desperately not to gag at the smell. I didn't know what happened inside because I wasn't there, but Lula came running out screaming with the skip chasing her.

When I tried to stop him, he dumped a giant bucket of… something all over me. I was no fisherman, but I was pretty sure it might be that goop they called "chum" and used to catch sharks and such. So I was definitely going to need to steer clear of the ocean until I'd had a shower.

Which pissed me off because that had been my plan for the day until I'd got a call for Shirley the Whiner's best friend's cousin twice removed about seeing good old Rinaldo Muggia. So now, not only did I have to chase down Rinaldo, but I had to take him into Trenton PD, get made fun of by the cops for my appearance, do everything in my power to avoid a certain asshole detective, and go back home for a shower. By the time I finished all that, it would be too late to bother going to the beach anyway.

I used that thought to fuel my hate fire and put on a burst of speed. Seeing that I was finally within range, I launched myself into a flying tackle. I felt some small amount of satisfaction when I did manage to take him down. That victory was short lived because he threw me off him with a harsh elbow to the gut, but I managed to scramble and grab onto his leg and drag him down again before he could start running. Finally I managed to pull my stun gun with my free hand and press it into his neck and fired. When he finally went lax, I flopped to the side for a moment to catch my breath.

That was when I clued in to the group not too far off who seemed to be offering critiques on my form. Turning my head, I saw who it was and just started shaking my head frantically. With my eyes back up to the sky, I said loudly, "no, just no."

I couldn't figure out what I'd done recently to make God this angry at me, but, clearly, I had done something!

"I think she recognizes us," the man who from the nature of that comment I was now certain was Hawkeye stage whispered to the others.

I scrambled to my feet, pulled out my cuffs, and cuffed my skip. I didn't want him to wake up and have to do the whole chasing thing again with this audience. That would be embarrassing.

I felt my gaze pulled to the largest of the men, and then I felt myself physically pulled toward him by some unseen force. I was fairly certain he was Thor, but it was difficult to tell without the armor. My skip was basically ripped out of my hands and no matter how much I dug my feet in, I couldn't stop myself.

"What the hell, man?" I asked in a panic.

No one said anything, just watched openly curious as I eventually found myself smashed head to toe against the man in question. And by toe, I mean my toes, which only reached his shins because he was that much taller than me. That's right, I was floating. His huge, muscle-y arms wrapped around me with a delighted laugh and he said, "My name is Thor Odinson, and I am what you call here on Midgard your 'romantic soulmate'."

"What is Midgard?"

"He means Earth," came a husky female voice to my right, and since there was only one female in the group, that was easy to identify.

Nodding my head, I blurted out, "but I don't have a romantic soulmate, just platonics."

"Those who are mated with an Asgardian, such as myself, don't bear words. Instead, they are drawn together like this upon first sight."

"Oh my god!" My brain still wasn't quite wrapping around what was going on, and the muscles were definitely distracting and not helping.

"You may call me Thor," he teased back. "May I know your name? Fair maiden?"

Duh, that was the second time he'd introduced himself. I really needed to open my damn mouth and introduce myself. There was laughter around me and I groaned knowing I had said that out loud. It was outrageous just how bad of a first impression I was making. Licking my lips nervously, I stuttered out, "I'm Steph. Well, Stephanie Plum, but you can call me Steph."

"It is wonderful to meet you indeed, Lady Steph. You have not injured yourself in that quarrel, have you?"

"No lasting damage other than to my pride, I promise." I answered. Looking down at the ground below me and realizing that he wasn't going to tire of holding onto me, if he was even feeling my weight since I seemed to be floating more than anything else, I hesitantly asked, "not that this isn't nice, but how do I, you know, get down?"

I was startled when instead of responding, he pressed his lips to mine in a gentle, chaste kiss. When he pulled back, he was able to gently set me on the ground and I stared up at where he was towering over me. "You are like twice the size a person should be."

"Thank you," he said with a wide grin.

I was about to open my mouth and say something that probably would have ended up being dumb when I heard a noise behind me. Turning, I saw my skip get to his feet and start running with his hands cuffed behind his back.

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed and took off after him.

I'd barely made it two steps when the one man in the group I hadn't recognized, the one with the metal arm, raced past me and grabbed up my skip. He carried him by the neck of his shirt and threw him on the ground in front of me.

Raising my eyes from my skip up to the dark-haired man, I said, "You're fast, thanks."

He smiled wide and said, "my pleasure, Doll. What'd he do anyway?"

"Oooooh, Platonic!" I said, pulling up my sleeve so he could see the grey writing on my upper arm. When he nodded, I answered his question saying, "oh, you know, assault. Tried to run down his wife with his car after she took him to court for failure to pay child support."

"Are you a cop?" A deep voice from my left said startling me.

I turned and looked at none other than Captain America and felt my eyes widen again as I suddenly realized the dark haired man was Bucky Barnes. "Bounty hunter," I stammered out with my brain apparently going on vacation again and needing a reboot.

I flashed Captain America the grey writing on my other arm and after his nod of confirmation looked at the group and said, "So, let me get this straight. Thor is my romantic soulmate, and Captain America and a real life Howling Commando are my platonic soulmates?"

"Apparently so," Black Widow said calmly.

"On one hand, that's kind of cool, but on the other hand, I can't help feeling like there is just a whole new class of people who are going to want to kill me now."

"Then we'll have to train you to fight. And it's Steve," Captain America said shaking my hand. He nodded at Bucky Barnes behind me and said, "and Bucky, please."

"Right, of course," I looked back over at Thor and couldn't quite hide my grin. "I would really like to get to know you all better, but I need to take him into jail and I  _really_  need a shower."

"Now that you mention it, why do you smell like that?" Tony Stark said. Only after he was elbowed hard in the stomach did he add, "no offense intended."

I waved it off and said, "my partner failed at tricking Rinaldo into coming in quietly, and he works at a fish market. He threw fish guts on me." Everyone but Thor and my two platonics took a small step back at that and I just shrugged, "not the worst thing I've gotten on me in this job."

No one really seemed to know what to say to that, so Hawkeye finally asked, "where's your partner now?"

"Well, she's not my partner partner. She's the filing clerk at the bonds office. And she doesn't like to run, so my guess is back at the office? At any rate, I'd really like to try to get this guy in before end of shift. So, I'm going to go do that. Were you all going anywhere? Will you still be here in like 20 or 30 minutes? Police station is just a couple blocks that way."

I grabbed hold of my skip, using my free hand to put my stun gun in front of his face and demonstrate that it was still working before shoving him forward. Behind me, I noticed the group follow me. I gave them a look of surprise, but Thor just stepped up next to me and murmured, "Forgive me, I would not have you leave my sight so soon after finding you. I have searched for you for over a thousand years."

"Hold up, you're over a thousand years old?"

"I am indeed," he said happily.

"Huh."

Without exchanging any more conversation, we made our way into the police station. I sighed in relief when I saw Robin at the intake desk. "Hey, Robin."

"Hey, Steph. Who do we have today?"

I pulled my paperwork out of my pocket and as I passed it off to her, I filled her in on all the details. As she was writing out my receipt, I hear the voice I'd been hoping to get out of here without hearing.

"Well, well, well, Cupcake. What did you get into now? When are you just going to give up already? You're a terrible bounty hunter, hopeless."

The lights flickered and thunder boomed outside almost as loud as Thor's voice inside when he cried, "you dare disparage my mate in this manner?"

"Oh, yeah," I said casually and loudly to Robin knowing that everyone was listening in at this point. "I met my romantic soulmate today. His name is Thor. As in the God of Thunder."

"Technically, I am not a god, and I have given up my claim to the throne of Asgard so that I may live here on Midgard and protect it, and those who are dear to me, from all threats, be they big or  _small_."

I saw from the corner of my eye Morelli scampering off, and once he was well out of sight, I turned to Thor and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, he's my ex. Left me when he found his romantic soulmate, but he's been bothering me ever since she left him. I made it perfectly clear I preferred a life of solitude, not knowing I had a romantic soulmate, over a life with him, and he got nasty."

"I do not think he'll make that mistake again," he said, dropping his large hand to the small of my back.

Robin handed me my paperwork, and I gave her a smile as I guided the group back out the door. When we stepped outside, Ranger was leaning against the wall.

"Heard you're causing a ruckus."

"Can't a girl bring her newly found almost god of a romantic soulmate around without people talking? They don't even know about my super soldier platonics yet!"

Ranger chuckled and pushed off the wall saying, "congrats. I can take your body receipt in if you want, deposit the money in your account."

I held out the paperwork and he slipped it from my fingers, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and disappeared.

"He's almost as good at that as Natasha," Steve said. When she glared at him, Steve held his hands up in surrender and said, "almost! Another ex, Steph?"

"Not really. More like a good friend, and a mentor."

No one said anything and I started walking until we were down the block from the precinct. Stopping again, I looked at the group and said, "I was going to call my father for a ride because my car blew up again yesterday and I don't have a new one yet, but he can't fit all of us. Also, my apartment probably can't either."

"Come to the Avengers Tower with us, get to know everyone, and we'll make sure you get back here whenever you want," Tony Stark said.

I thought about it for a moment, but really, there was nothing I wanted to do more than spend time with Thor. I still couldn't get over the joy of realizing after all these years of thinking I wasn't good enough for a romantic soulmate that I actually did have one. "Sure. But same problem how are we going to get there?"

"Well, something tells me Thor has you covered, and we'll follow behind in a bit. Our driver is on his way to pick us up now."

Thor was holding his arm straight out to his side, and before I could even ask what it meant that Thor had me covered, his hammer was flying into his hand. With a laugh at my surprised look, he wrapped an arm fully around me, told me to hold on, and then we were flying.

And flying was just as awesome as I'd always dreamed.


	26. Somethin' Bad - Steph & Darcy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song came on my playlist, and then this happened. I'm not at all sorry. Yes, the title as well as Steph & Darcy's first words to each other are lyrics from the song by Miranda Lambert (featuring Carrie Underwood).

_**Steph's POV** _

Today was my wedding day. Again. And I didn't really know how I got here. Again.

For the second time in my life, I'd let my mother talk me into accepting a proposal from someone who wasn't my soulmate because "I wasn't getting any younger" and "who was I kidding, I'd never do better".

Dickie was a wuss. A pathetic excuse for a man, really. And yet he'd cheated on me. If he could do it, what was to make me think Morelli wouldn't as well. In fact, Morelli had met his romantic soulmate, and he wasn't with her anymore because he'd cheated. As I pulled up to the church in Uncle Sandor's trusty buick, I got even more nervous.

I couldn't do this. No way. Not going to happen. My romantic soulmate was still out there, as were a couple of platonics, and I wasn't going to throw that away because I'd gotten impatient or failed to believe. And really, I had to trust that I was matched with someone better than Morelli.

I'd started to pull into the spot reserved for me outside the church, and with that final flash of clarity, I just pulled right back out and laid rubber on my way out of the parking lot. I didn't have much time, I was certain, before Morelli showed up at my apartment and tried to convince me to marry him. That's if I was lucky. If I was unlucky, with his temper, he might just not only his words.

A couple of months ago, he'd found my stash of money in the freezer, and started questioning why I thought I needed it. Didn't I trust him to take care of me?

No, I did not. But, I also didn't want to fight about it, so I'd made a show of depositing it in the bank. Then I'd started a new stash under my mattress, one he hadn't found yet. Taking one last deep breath, I grabbed the money and ran back outside. After careful consideration, I didn't want to be tracked by anyone, so I threw my car keys on the counter, pulled my ID and a credit card for emergencies out of my purse and stuffed them in my bra. I had a bottle of booze in the freezer, so I took a healthy swig before walking back out of my apartment. Money, ID, credit card, that was it.

I ran the first few blocks as best I could in my heels until I felt like I was far enough away that I'd be difficult to find. Then I slowed to a walk and tried to decide which bar I was headed to.

_**Darcy's POV** _

I had to do a lot of shit since I'd moved from being Jane's unpaid intern to the general Avengers Tower scientist wrangler (meaning I took care of Bruce and Tony in addition to Jane). And not all of it made sense.

A trip to Trenton to pick up spare parts from some warehouse for Tony really wasn't all that crazy in the scheme of things. Still it had been a long drive alone, and Tony's supplier seemed to operate on a similar time schedule to Tony's. That is to say he did things whenever he damn well pleased rather than at the agreed upon time. Unless, I suppose, the agreed upon time was when the damn well pleased, but that wasn't the point.

He'd been three hours late, but at least I had the parts now. Why Tony couldn't just order them delivered, I still didn't know, but I had decided it wasn't worth arguing with him over after two hours of going round and round on it.

I knew I was looking at a horrendous drive back into Manhattan now with rush hour traffic, but I honestly couldn't think of anything to do in Trenton to kill time until the traffic passed. So, resigned to my fate, I started driving.

I was about ten minutes in when I saw a woman walking on the sidewalk. And not just any woman, but one in a wedding dress who looked like she definitely had plans other than a wedding on her mind. It was there in her posture and the determination with which she was walking. Suddenly, I was overcome with the desire to know her story. Maybe if I offered her a ride, I'd be given the opportunity to find out.

I pulled over, ignoring the horns of the people I cut off and rolled down my window. When I pulled up next to her, I called out, "Where you headed to next?"

She startled and turned wide blue eyes on me. I couldn't figure out why I'd startled her since I was pretty sure I looked normal rather than deranged today. That was until I heard her reply, "I'm headed to the bar with the money outta my mattress, I've got a real good feeling something bad's about to happen."

My mouth turned up into a huge grin as I waved her into the car. When she opened the door, I flashed her the words she'd just said to me that were written on my forearm. With a nod, she said, "that's my writing." Then she hiked up her skirt and showed me my words on her calf.

I pulled out my phone and said, "just give me one second to let some people know I'm going to be late."

I opened up a fresh text message with Natasha and said:

" _Hey mom, don't wait up. I'm going to have some fun tonight with a new friend."_

" _Darcy, who is this friend?"_

" _Don't worry, she's trustworthy. See you tomorrow sometime. P.S. I can I call you if I need someone to bail me out of jail, right?"_

" _Darcy, where are you?"_

" _Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything you wouldn't do!"_

I shut my phone and ignored the continued buzzing. I turned to the woman and said, "I'm Darcy. So, where are we headed. I gotta tell you, you owe me one hell of a night- I've been looking forward to it ever since I knew what a bar was."

She let out a giggle and said, "the name's Steph. Stephanie Plum, and it definitely is not nor will it ever be Stephanie Morelli."

I hummed in agreement figuring I should get a couple drinks in her before I tried to get the full story out. I followed her directions to a bar. I let her finish all of her first drink and most of her second before I started pumping her for information because, I mean, she was wearing a wedding dress. You know there had to be a really good story behind that.

There was just one point I couldn't get past, so I brought it up again in the middle of drink three. "But, you said you have a romantic soulmate who you haven't met yet. So why would you get married once let alone twice before even giving that guy- or girl- a chance?!"

"Guy," she said, and I inclined my head in understanding. "And because I'm not going to meet him until I'm old, so I figured if I wanted to experience the whole marriage and family thing, I was going to have to do it without him."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because he calls me 'ma'am', and no one calls anyone other than old ladies that!"

I couldn't help it, I choked on my drink and spewed it everywhere at that. Before I could ask to see the handwriting because I suddenly had a very good idea of who I thought her romantic soulmate might be, an angry looking man in a tux walked up and grabbed her by the arm, hard and dragged her off the bar stool she was perched on.

"Hey!" I cried grabbing up my phone and pushing my alarm on it without thinking about it. From there things moved fast. The man was screaming something about a cupcake, and I was hitting him with my purse. The man took a swing at me, which I ducked and countered with another whap of my purse. Steph apparently was shocked into action at that and turned around enough to knee him in the crotch.

He hit the ground, Steph reached into her dress and pulled out a wad of cash before throwing it onto the bar. When we tried to brush past the man, he grabbed onto Steph's ankle and she started struggling and trying to kick free. A scuffle ensued and moments later uniformed cops were pulling us away from the man and we found ourselves cuffed and being guided out to a police car.

Once we were inside, and the cop shut the door, he turned to look at us in the backseat and said, "what the hell were you thinking, Steph? He's a detective, so you know I'm going to have to take you in and press charges."

"He grabbed me, Eddie. He was hurting me and he wouldn't let go. It was self defense! I know that bar has cameras, just look at them before Morelli can make them disappear."

The cop got back out of the car and walked inside, leaving us still cuffed in the backseat. I looked at Steph and winced because at some point in the struggles, she'd gotten a split lip and what looked like it was going to be one hell of a black eye. She blew out a breath and rested her head back on the seat.

"You okay?" I asked quietly, which seemed to set her off and she started crying. I couldn't help but point out, "at least you didn't marry him."

That brought out enough of a laugh for her to stop crying. With a sigh she said, "yeah. I'm sorry I ruined your night. This was probably not at all what you hoped for."

"Are you kidding? With the people I hang around with, this kind of thing is totally going to get me points. And I had fun, at least until Detective Dickbag showed up. My only real regret is not bringing my taser."

"You have a taser?"

"Yeah, I love her. I named her Drusilla because she packs a heck of a bite."

That got me a snort of laughter before she said, "I prefer a stun gun myself as I'm usually up close and personal with the people attacking me."

I wanted to ask how many people that was, but I was interrupted by a sound that was both sweet and familiar to me. A quinjet uncloaking and landing nearby. In the middle of the street actually. I would never say they didn't love me, but even if I tried, being willing to block a street in downtown Trenton to come to my rescue was pretty good proof that they really did love me.

"Ah, looks like my backup is here."

Steph turned, looked out the window, and gaped. Together we watched as the uniformed Avengers took in the scene around them. Clint was, unsurprisingly, the first person to spot us. He immediately walked over to the car, and I noticed Steve take in the sight of me in the backseat before he straightened his shoulders, put his hands on his belt with his chest puffed out, and wandered inside, no doubt to find whoever was in charge. Natasha, Tony, Sam, and Bucky all set up a protective perimeter.

Clint had the front door open within seconds of reaching it and he sat in the driver's seat and turned around.

"I know we're in New Jersey, but I don't think polygamy is legal, Darcy."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Steph, meet my husband and romantic soulmate Clint aka Hawkeye. He thinks he's funny. Clint, this is my platonic soulmate Steph. She hasn't been having a good day."

"It's nice to meet you," she said, and I raised my brow in interest. Of course we'd realized that the handwriting appeared to be a match, but it was still nice to see our expectations met.

Clint gave her his genuine smile now, not the one he used for PR or on marks as he said, "Aww man, I missed all the fun! I was really hoping I'd be there when you two met! Not to mention all the times I've asked Darcy not to get into bar fights without me."

Steph laughed a little at Clint's words and matching pout, but her heart wasn't in it. When I started explaining the situation to Clint, her attention wandered and she just looked so darn sad again. I really wished my hands weren't cuffed behind my back so I could give her a hug, and I could tell Clint felt the same way about being separated from us by a cage.

By the time I finished my story, Steve was walking back out of the bar with the uniformed cop from earlier trailing behind him. With them was the bartender who I just barely remembered Steph mentioning was the owner and a friend. Clint slid out of the car, and the cop didn't even frown at him as he opened the door next to me. He allowed Clint to reach in and help me out and quickly uncuffed me. When I turned back around, I realized Steph hadn't followed me and was still curled into herself in the back seat.

Clint moved forward, but I grabbed onto his arm and stopped him, watching as Steve moved forward. He crouched down in front of the car and said, "Ma'am, it's alright. You can come out now."

Steph went wide eyed, and I buried my face in Clint's shoulder to muffle my laugh of delight. Once I had it under control, I turned back to watch where Steph had yet to move. Slowly she inched forward, looking to me like she was going to try to just not say anything. I was trying to figure out how I was going intervene, but when she tried to climb out, it was awkward with the cuffs and she stumbled. Steve easily caught her and she reflexively said, "thanks, that's a lot harder than it looks with your hands tied behind your back."

I started laughing, remembering the times someone had brought up Steve's words and he'd stammered, blushed, and refused to answer the question. "You know something I don't know," Clint whispered in my ear.

Leaning up I said, "they're romantic soulmates!"

"But she was going to get married!" Clint cried out.

"He called me ma'am! I thought I wasn't going to meet him until I was old!" Steph retorted.

Steve let out a bark of laughter at that and said, "no, I'm the old one here, ma'am."

"Steph.  _Please_  call me Steph."


	27. We Need to Talk - Steve/Steph

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone posted a picture in one of my fanfiction Facebook groups that said that nothing good could come from a conversation that started with "we need to talk". I decided to accept that challenge.

_**Steve's POV** _

Even before all of SHIELD's data was dumped on the internet by Natasha and I, I didn't get a lot of undercover missions. Once people realized that I was alive rather than someone taking up the name of a dead hero, people went a little crazy. It was hard to go anywhere without getting recognized, let alone going undercover without getting recognized.

Still, desperate times called for desperate measures. With Natasha in charge, my hair had been temporarily (or so she assured me) died brown and I had a large pair of glasses on. She insisted that it was enough of a disguise, especially when they put me in a club where no one would expect to see Captain America that I wouldn't be recognized. Add in the facts that I was in a club, which people didn't expect of Captain America, and I was in Trenton, NJ, where I'd never been before, and I should have been golden.

For the first hour, moving around, the cover had held. Then I'd started to feel eyes on me, and had to do my best to discreetly scan the room trying to figure out what had caused my discovery. Finally, I saw her. A beautiful woman across the way wearing a slinky black dress and heels. As I started to walk toward her, I realized that she didn't recognize me, she was just studying my movements. She was interested in me.

I was just a few steps away when I paused. If she really didn't recognize me, then I needed to get back to the mission and move on. So I stopped and turned back around, intending to move on. I couldn't stop myself from just one more look in her direction though, and as soon as her eyes met mine, that was the moment she recognized me.

It was obvious, really. Her eyes went comically wide, her mouth opened in a little 'o' and and she started looking around as though she was trying to find the threat. Cursing under my breath at my own inability to leave her alone causing the issue, I moved forward fast. She opened her mouth to say something, and probably blow my cover, so I did the only thing I could think to do, I covered her mouth with mine.

After a moment of shock, she seemed to decide to just go with it, melting into the kiss and opening her mouth again under mine. My tongue took advantage of the opportunity, even as I could hear teasing and chatter among my only backup for the night- Natasha and Bucky. The kiss dragged on, and in the back of my mind, I registered the teasing turning into chastising by Natasha who was telling me not to get distracted by a pretty face.

It was at the same moment that this woman moved her hands up my arms. When the palm of her left hand met my right bicep, I felt a small shock and my skin heated up a little. Which was odd because that's where my soulmark was. That contact and shock was enough to bring me back to reality.

I couldn't resist pulling her more firmly into my body as I trailed my mouth sideways so it would look like I was just continuing the kiss over to her ear. Once my mouth was pressed up against it, I whispered to her urgently, "we need to talk."

I wasn't prepared for the way she'd jerk, stiffen up, then step out of my grasp and gape at me. "Come on, Doll, you gotta play along for a minute. It's really important," I said as soon as I managed to pull her into my arms and whisper in her ear again. With a shaky nod, she relaxed a little against me again, and allowed me to pull her onto the dance floor.

Using the music for cover, I held her close and whispered in her ear, "I'm in the middle of a mission, and I need you to not announce who I am."

She put her mouth against my ear this time and make sure she wasn't overheard, as she responded. "Do you always kiss random women to keep your cover?"

I managed to school my reaction, but I heard Natasha cursing under her breath, no doubt because she understood the significance of those words just as well as I did. "Well, I did kiss my partner once to keep people from recognizing us, but that was pretty awful. Plus, I've got you now, so I'm saving all my kisses for you."

That got me a bright smile and she leaned back up to say, "my name is Steph. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm a part-time bounty hunter, part-time security expert, I'm armed, I know how to fight, and I'll help you in any way I can. I run distractions for my team all the time, if you need to get someone outside without causing a scene, I can help. If you need backup, I can help."

In my ear, Natasha said, "you gotta take her up on that, Cap. We'll keep her safe."

Before I could say anything else, Steph said, "or if you need me to get out of your way, name's Stephanie Plum. Come to Rangeman Trenton, and you'll find me."

I sighed, "we could use your help if you're sure. There's a man we need to talk to. His name is Gus Chianni-"

"cop. I vaguely know him." That gave me a moment of pause, and Steph continued, rolling her eyes, "I know all the cops. Plus he was a drinking buddy of my ex. Didn't do anything other than tell me to 'be careful' when a gang banger he was arresting on my tip threatened me. Never thought he was dirty, but never really liked him either. He finds me… amusing. You need to talk to him, I can get him out the door with me, alone. Just give me five minutes."

"Your soulmate's an angel, Steve," Natasha said.

"If you know him, why help us?" I couldn't help but asking.

"Know him, not friends." She replied. Then she looked me steadily in the eyes and said, "do you have a good reason for needing to talk to him?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to steamroll him without cause?"

"We already have plenty, but no."

"Okay, then I trust you."

Pulling Steph into me again, I gave her a thorough kiss, and said, "I need you to be careful. He may be a cop, but he is not a good guy."

"I will. Back door or front door?"

"Back, please."

"Okay, now. I'm assuming you can take a hit, so apologies in advance, but I'm going to need you to lay one on me and grab my ass."

I blinked at her for a few seconds then did as she asked. When my hands wandered, as she'd instructed, she struggled away then hauled off and smacked me. She rushed away, and I could hear both Natasha and Bucky hooting with laughter in my earpiece. Shaking it off, I made myself look suitably rebuked then made a beeline for the restroom. I made eye contact with Bucky who was melting into the shadows on the perimeter of the club, and he gave me a nod to say he had Steph's back.

Instead of going into the restroom, I continued straight out the back door. I was utterly unsurprised to find Natasha there waiting for me already. She took in the red mark on my cheek and said, "she's got decent delivery for a civilian." I grunted in agreement, and Natasha just laughed some more before saying, "don't worry, I doubt she'll make a habit of it."

Together we slid into the wall on either side of the door and waited. Five minutes on the nose after she'd stormed away from me, if my internal clock was correct, the door opened again and Steph came striding out. Chianni was following her almost like a dog on a leash, so fixated on her bared legs that he didn't even notice Bucky sliding out the door behind them before it closed or Natasha and I when we stepped forward.

Steph stopped, crossed her arms across her chest, and leveled Chianni with a hard glare. When he caught the look, he blinked in surprise. "What did you do?" Steph asked angrily.

Chianni took a step back and bumped into Bucky. With a start, he started to turn, but stopped halfway when he caught sight of me. I was using my most intimidating stance and look. He gulped and looked back at Steph who hadn't moved an inch. "You bitch! There's no warrant for me, and I'm sure as hell not FTA. You have no right!"

"All I did was ask you to accompany me outside, and I have every right to do my soulmate a favor." She nodded in my direction even as she said, "and I don't think he likes that nickname for me."

"I'm not a fan either," Natasha said to Chianni from his other side, making the man realize he was boxed in.

Apparently, he figured his best bet for freedom was to go through Steph because he tried to run. Before I could move to help her, she shifted to the side, slid under his arm, and used his momentum to execute and impressive hip throw.

"Alright," Bucky said, addressing me. "If that's the way it's going to be, let's take him in."

I slung my arm around Steph's shoulder and said, "what do you say? Want to tag along?"

"Of course I do. Now's he's pissed me off  _and_  he's made me curious. Even if you tried to shake me, I'd just start investigating on my own, and I'm guessing you don't want that."

When we got to the van we were using that was retrofitted for prisoner transport, I stiffened as I noticed a group of men, dressed in black combat gear, leaning against it with their arms folded across their chests. Steph just ran a soothing stroke down my arm and said, "that's  _my_  team."

"Taking freelance distractions now, Steph?" The absolutely huge man asked.

"Just met my soulmate, Tank, and he needed some help."

The man whom all the others were surrounding and was clearly the leader stepped forward. Although his gaze was on me, clearly saying he knew exactly who I was and quite probably what I was doing as well, he addressed Steph. "Chianni's a cop. Are you sure you want to get involved with whatever this is? Could burn a lot of bridges here in Trenton for you." Steph nodded resolutely and he inclined his head then pressed something into her hands. She took it without looking at it. Then he reached into the back waistband of his pants with one hand and into a cargo pocket with the other. He met her eyes as he handed her his gun and some extra rounds of ammo. "Be careful."

With one last look at Bucky, Natasha, and I that clearly told us we were at risk if we didn't keep Steph safe, the man and his employees vanished into the night. Natasha reached into her pocket, pulled out a tranq, and administered it to our prisoner. Once he was unconscious, we shackled him into the bench in the back, and Steph, Natasha, and I climbed in for the ride. Bucky would handle the driving.

Natasha was sitting next to the prisoner, on the bench that faced backward. The position put here between Steph and Chianni, but it also allowed Natasha to be virtually back to back with her romantic soulmate, Bucky, with only the metal of the van wall separating them. Steph and I were on opposite benches along either side, and as she settled in, Steph put the pile of stuff the man had given her on her lap.

"What'd he give you other than the gun?" I asked curiously.

"His name is Ranger, he's my boss, mentor, and friend. Occasionally,  _ **in the past**_ , with benefits, but that's been over for a long time now. We're still good friends and he still watches out for me. This," she said holding up a small object. "is a panic button. It doesn't track me or relay any location information until I push it."

She met my eyes as she mentioned the friends with benefits part, and I just nodded my head in understanding. It honestly didn't bother me, and I wasn't some virginal saint myself. As long as it stayed in the past, assuming Steph and I started our own relationship, I was fine with it.

Apparently satisfied with what she saw in my gaze, she said, "Gun's not registered. Is that going to be a problem?"

With a chuckle, I answered, "no, I thought you said you were armed."

Her eyes met mine again and she slid her hand under her dress and pulled out a compact stun gun, which had to have been in a thigh holster that I was trying very, very hard not to picture in my mind.

Natasha barked out a laugh and said something into her comm in Russian to Bucky, and I heard an answering chuckle from the front.

This time Steph reached into the plunging neckline of her dress and drew it back out holding a key fob. She put the fob on her lap and then picked the panic button up and reached back in, apparently stowing it where the other object had been. Taking the fob back into hand she showed it to me saying, "this has a tracker in it that is always on. Ranger won't do anything with the information, but if we're going somewhere you don't want-"

She cut off as Natasha grabbed the fob out of her hand, put it on the ground, smashed it with her boot thoroughly, then got up, opened the back of the van and threw it out.

Steph observed calmly but didn't say anything else for a few minutes. When she spoke again, it was to ask me "How long are we going to be on the road?"

"At least another hour, depending on traffic," I said.

With a nod, she slid down in her seat, picked up her legs and swung them up so that they were crossed at the ankles and stacked on my thigh, heels and all. I slid my hand to the underside of her knee to steady her, and it took all of my willpower to leave it there and not let them wander any higher. She gave me a soft smile then closed her eyes. Two minutes later, her breathing had evened out and she was asleep.

I looked over at Natasha once I was sure Steph was asleep. With a smile Natasha said, "oh, hey, you remembered I'm here." I flicked my gaze to the van doors she'd opened earlier and she gave me a smirk that said I had a point. Natasha never failed to make her presence known.

"You haven't said anything to her yet," I observed.

"You seem to have everything under control. Plus, I figure, might as well give her as much time to adjust to you before Bucky and I give her another surprise."

Natasha had hidden the fact that her platonic soulmate's handwriting matched my romantic's until everything in D.C. happened and she decided she really could trust me. Once we'd found Bucky, Natasha had revealed to me that his platonic's writing also matched. It wasn't a particularly surprising revelation, as I was close to the pair, but the fact that I'd met Steph on this particular mission made it even more logical.

I hummed in understanding, and closed my eyes with no intention of falling asleep, but just allowing myself to bask for a moment in the warmth in my mind that I knew would grow into our soulbond in time.

"She's pretty," Natasha said, "and she can take care of herself pretty well."

"Don't meddle," I warned.

In the silence that followed, I knew there was no way in hell Natasha was going to heed my warning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, that got a little long. *shrug* What can I say? I ship them! Also, this may have just bumped itself to the top of my list for expansion... the author regrets nothing!


	28. I Only Run for Doughnuts or Money - Steph/Pietro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's pretty much Steph's philosophy in life.

_**Steph's POV** _

Some days just really weren't worth getting out of bed for. Like, if I could do it over again, I would, without a doubt, have just rolled back over and gone back to sleep for the rest of the day. No getting out of bed for me. No siree Bob.

My skip, Raymond Barber was supposed to be easy money. He'd gotten drunk and broken into an arcade. Somehow he'd pried the top off of the claw machine, and while reaching in to try to get the stuffed flower toy he apparently wanted, he'd fallen in.

The next morning, the teenager who opened up to start getting things ready for the day found him, and called the cops. When the cops got there, he was still clutching the flower plush toy to his chest, singing the song "Daisy Bell". He'd been arrested for breaking and entering as well as vandalism of private property.

Pretty much the entire tank of toys inside the game had been a loss as at some point in the night, Raymond had to relieve himself. What goes in must go out, and all that.

So when his file had crossed Connie's desk and ended up in my stack of skips, I figured he'd be easy to bring in. All I'd need to do was knock on his door, remind him of the court date he almost certainly forgot, and then take him into the station to be re-booked, rescheduled, and in all likelihood, re-released.

Of course, what I found out later was that good old Raymond's prints the first time he'd been booked had been matched with another crime, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Obviously it was something that had taken a little while to work through the system, so I assumed that was why the information had never made it to me.

Flash forward to me showing up at his house, giving him my standard spiel, and sticking my foot in the door so he couldn't slam it shut in my face.

"Really, Raymond, it's not a big deal. We all have a little too much to drink sometimes, and do stupid stuff. I'll take you in, you'll set a new court date, and you'll be back out in a matter of minutes. Then you'll remember the court date this time, show up for it, and get community service. Probably not even that much. Then it'll be over and done with!"

"I'm leaving, and you can't make me stay!"

"It is crazy to go on the run for a charge like this, Raymond! Just do the community service, how bad could it be? Pick up some trash, feed some homeless people some soup, whatever works for you. Just do it and be done with it!"

"You think I don't know that they're probably right behind you, you bitch? You probably brought them right to my doorstep. Followed you and everything!"

"Okay, Raymond, I don't think anyone is following me to find you- you weren't hard to find." I felt it best not to mention the fact that I'd been feeling one of those tingles on the back of my neck all day, and Ranger was in the wind, so I was fairly certain it wasn't him. "And why would anyone be looking for you anyway? It's one lousy bond, not even worth that much money, and Vinnie doesn't send out multiple bounty hunters at once for easy cases like this."

Raymond scoffed and apparently decided he was done playing nice, that or he heard the same creak on his porch that I did, but he didn't think it was the wind as I assumed it was. He reached out his hand, and I missed the stun gun in it, which looked oddly familiar, until it was pressed into me and I went down.

Thankfully it seemed to be a misfire day, so I went down with a grunt but was up on my feet only seconds later. I started chasing after him through the back of the house and into the yard. I saw him disappearing out the side gate to the front and took off, but quickly realized that he was going faster than me.

A blue-colored blur whizzed past me, and a second later, my skip was on the ground, pinned by a man who looked young but had silver hair. He looked up at me with a confident grin and said, "bet you didn't see that coming!" Raymond started putting up more of a struggle, so I tossed the stranger who was apparently my romantic soulmate a set of handcuffs. Once he'd secured the man, I still hadn't spoken, so my soulmate said, "You know, if you're going to be chasing after people, you might want to try to get a little faster."

Combine my shock over how fast the man had just run with the fact that I'd just met my soulmate, and I just continued to gape at him, willing myself to say anything. Finally I blurted out, "I only run for doughnuts and money."

"I've always wondered," a female voice said softly from right next to me, "how does one run for money?"

When I turned to look at her, her eyes were glowing red and some sort of reddish static seemed to be hovering around her hands. I supposed that was no weirder than running like a blue blur, so I just ignored it and said, "I'm a bounty hunter- if I catch him, I get money. Then I can use the money to get doughnuts, so I guess it's kind of the same thing."

Now I was alternating between staring at the two of them, snapping my head back and forth. The woman held her arm outwards to me, and the glowing disappeared, allowing me to see my words across my forearm. As mine were on the same spot, I held mine to her, and watched as she read them over and smiled.

"My name's Steph," I blurted out, still awkwardly.

"Wanda," she said kindly, "and this is my brother, Pietro."

"Uh, am I right in thinking you're some of the new Avengers? Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver?"

"Oh, darling, you've heard of me," Pietro said smoothly. He held out his hand and showed me that my words to him were on his palm before continuing, "I feel honored, and yet I wish to know everything about you. Let's start with this, why were you chasing Ward?"

"Ward?" I asked him.

"Grant Ward," Pietro replied, pointing to the man on the ground.

"Oh, there must be some mistake. That's Raymond Barber, I'm bringing him into court for trespassing and destruction of property," I said, digging in my purse for the paperwork.

A man who could only be Captain America (the stars and stripes uniform was a dead giveaway) strode forward, and clearly overhearing me held out his hand for my paperwork when I had it.

"Yes," he commented, "this is the arrest that got the match on the fingerprints. He's not Raymond Barber, that's just an alias. We'll escort him to the police station for you, and arrange a transfer of him over to our custody."

I gulped and looked over at my soulmate, asking, "what did he do?"

"A lot of really bad things," Pietro said in response before sliding an arm around my waist. "Now tell me, what do I have to do to get to see my words? You let my sister see hers."

"Well, I can show your sister hers fully clothed," I said. "Mine are-"

"I'd really rather just not know, I think," Wanda interrupted. "Knowing my brother, I can only imagine. If you never tell me, I can just pretend they're on your back but you'd only be able to show him by taking off your shirt or something."

"Don't you know?" Steve asked incredulously, "with all your mind reading and such?"

"I'm trying really, really hard not to see any of those thoughts," Wanda said. "She projects them very loudly."

I didn't know how to respond to that, but I didn't have to as Pietro just responded, "don't worry, my Stephanie. I cannot wait to show you the joys of the stamina that comes from running. Maybe I'll convert you."

I looked him over head to toe, glad we were alone as the others had walked off already when I accidentally said, "I think you might just be able to give me something I'll enjoy more than a doughnut."


	29. I Could Kiss You - Steph/Clint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was quickly written and rushed, so it hasn't been beta-ed. But I wanted to get it posted today because it is Lynda's birthday! Happy birthday, Lynda! This one's in your honor!

My name is Stephanie Plum, and for the last couple of years, I had the pleasure of working for my cousin Vinnie as a bonds enforcement agent in Trenton, New Jersey.

 

Alright, in truth it was only a pleasure about a quarter of the time, max. Sometimes it was pleasant because I met someone who, despite having skipped out on their bail and having to be brought in, was actually fairly cool and relatable. I'd even made a couple of friends of people I'd tracked down and been able to help.

Other times it was a great job because I got to do something totally badass that, when the gossips of Trenton, inevitably started chattering about it, no one could deny was amazing. Slowly but surely these days, which could only be described as pure victories, were becoming more common. And that was why, despite a few close-calls with quitting, I stuck with the job. The days where I  _won_  were satisfying, and I knew I was getting better with time.

When I chased the man I was after, Anthony Boyd, that day onto the roof of the abandoned warehouse, I thought it was going to be one of those victorious days where I got to strut into the Trenton Police Department and look like I actually knew what I was doing. That bit of hope counteracted the feeling I had that someone was watching me and made me brave enough to act.

The fact that the guy's rap sheet clearly proved that he was an ass also helped me decide, and I launched myself at him, taking him down with a flying tackle. As I pulled his arms harshly behind his back and affixed handcuffs, I finished my earlier explanation to him of why I was hunting him down.

Not that he didn't know, but the guy had interrupted me by shooting at me when I'd first found hi and tried to explain. And that was just rude. I hated being interrupted almost as much as I hated being shot at. So I was going to say my piece whether or not he was going to listen.

"As I was saying, I'm Stephanie Plum, and I work for Plum Bail Bonds, the organization that wrote the bond that allowed you to go free while you faced charges of illegally cooking amphetamines and second degree desecration of human remains. Ick. You didn't show up for your court date, so I'm taking you back to jail. Personally, I hope they don't let you out on bail again because that combination of crimes is just-"

I was cut off by the sound of squealing tires in the distance. Turning, I pulled Boyd with me and shoved him across the roof, intending to get a better view of what was happening. That turned out to be unnecessary because chasing after the cars on the road was a jet that was as clearly visible as the A on the side of it.

Of course I'd seen pictures of the Avengers and their jet- everybody had- but I had never been witness to one of their missions. And judging by the robots that were flying everywhere, that was about to change.

In truth, the fighting went pretty quickly, and despite his whining, I'd refused to release Boyd, just hunkered down while still maintaining a firm hold on him. When the combat noises seemed to be dying down, I cuffed Boyd to the railing that lead down to the door back into the building and walked to the edge of the building to take a better look. I didn't care what was going on, I was mostly interested in finding out if it was safe to be moving back toward my car.

I leaned over the side of the building just in time to see a sparking robot go smashing into my car, which of course, proceeded to blow up.

But the explosion didn't stop there. For some reason, the building next to it blew, then a few seconds later, the one next to it- which was only one away from the building I was standing on. I looked over at the fire escape longingly, then turned back to Boyd who was yelling at me not to leave him behind.

"Of course I'm not leaving you here," I yelled as I uncuffed him more quickly than I remembered moving in my life.

And, being the scum that he was, Boyd shoved me over as soon as he was free. "Bounty hunter bitch!" he yelled before kicking me in the abdomen and running for the staircase.

He knocked the wind out of me so bad that I couldn't move even though my brain was yelling at me to do so immediately. Forcing myself to calm down, I managed to catch my breath as I stumbled for my feet. Honestly, I didn't know why Boyd was running to the center of the building, as the fire escape seemed like the much better option.

I was about halfway there when I heard the rumbling. Resigned to my fate, I screamed, trying desperately to grab onto the handrail of the fire escape as the explosion propelled me off the side of the building. Of course, that kind of catch only happens when you're highly trained and know what you're doing, so I missed the rail. Before I could scream a second time, however, I felt something hit my body. Hard.

It was the oddest feeling when I realized I was moving UP instead of plummeting to my death, and a few seconds later I slammed into a rough, metal ground. Honestly, I knew I was doing some kind of combination of gasping and crying that had to be making me look dreadful, but I thought it was fair given the fact that I'd almost died. Then, as it slowly sank in that I was alive, the crying turned into laughter. Next to me, I heard an amused grunt, mixed with a groan, and I managed to roll onto my side in the direction the noise had come from.

As I rolled, I noticed that I was reasonably sure we were inside the jet, and when I completed the turn, I realized the the man lying on the ground next to me, who had saved me and taken the brunt of the fall when we landed, was none other than Hawkeye. The bow on the ground next to him was a dead giveaway. When our eyes caught, my brain that was filled with gratitude completely bypassed anything resembling a filter for my mouth and I blurted out, "I could kiss you right now!"

He looked full on startled, which seemed odd because I was sure the Avengers had groupies throwing themselves at them left and right. Once he spoke though, I understood his surprise.

"Well, don't let me stop you," he said with laughter in his eyes.

Figuring I could take my romantic soulmate at his word there, I scootched over until I could press my body against his completely and proceeded to do exactly that. There was no warm-up period as we learned what the other liked, rather, we seemed to instinctively know exactly what would make the other groan and gasp.

Eventually my attention was pulled away from my soulmate by the very loud sound of a throat clearing. I looked up to see a brunette with bangs and her hair pulled into a bun, staring down at us with an unamused expression and her arms across her chest. I flushed red, and Hawkeye just said, "oh, give it a rest, Hill. I do things much more deserving of your ire on a daily basis."

There was an amused laugh from down by our feet and I saw the rest of the Avengers, in full uniform, standing there looking amused.

"Oh, well, you see," I stammered, not wanting them to think poorly of me. "That Jeep you blew up was mine, and then it blew up the building next to it, and the one next to that, and the one next to that, and the one next to that, which I was actually on the roof of at the time. And uh, Hawkeye-"

He cut me off to correct him saying, "Clint," while grabbing onto my hand and squeezing even as he sat up and helped me up next to him.

"Clint," I paused to feel my soulmate's name on my lips, and I couldn't stop what I knew was a sappy grin from breaking out on my face as I continued. "Right, Clint, well… actually… I don't know what Clint did, but he definitely saved my life."

"And you were just thanking him?" Iron Man asked, and I gaped because those words matched my platonic soulmark in grey.

Addressing Iron Man, I said, "well, yes, I guess I was thanking him."

Tony grinned as he quickly caught on, "we're platonic soulmates; are you and Legolas are romantic soulmates by any chance?"

"Yep, Steph's mine. Figures she'd match up with you as well. That's gotta be penance for something in my past," he said before pulling me firmly into his side. Then he looked over at me with a smile of his own and explained the question on my face of how he knew my name, "I saw you on the roof before the team even got there- I was over on a cherry picker a couple blocks away doing surveillance on the area. I read your lips, so I know your name and that you were a bounty hunter. I'm sorry, I'm guessing the guy you arrested is dead- he hadn't made it out of the building before I shot my grappling hook arrow at the jet and grabbed you on my way up."

I looked over at the wall of the jet and saw a hook viciously embedded into the wall. "Huh," I said. When I looked over at the burning building I sighed and said, "let me go talk to the fire department so that when they find the body, they know who it is and I can get my money."

I stood on admittedly shaky legs, and started walking, feeling Clint's arm come around me before I could stumble. As we moved toward the gathering emergency responders, I was surprised to feel the rest of the team gather around us. Iron Man leaned over and stage whispered, "you're part of our crazy family now, and we take care of each other. Plus, the Captain there is really good at cutting through bureaucracy and red tape."


	30. Oh, That's Just Great, You're Blind (StephXMatt Murdock)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forget who prompted asking for a Steph/Matt story, but this is what I've got for you for now!

Life was made up with thousands upon thousands of moments. It was impossible to say which were to credit or blame for the way an individual turned out. He knew that.

And yet there was a part of Matt Murdock that had always blamed his soulmate for the man he had become.

Sure, growing up without his mother around and with a father who was a fighter was different from most kids' childhoods. Try though Jack Murdock had to encourage Matt to study and work hard to be something more than a fighter, having to stitch up and tend to his father's wounds had left an impression.

You see there was something to be said for the influence of people's soulmark words on their life. Some people never really bothered to slow down or keep an eye out for others because their words said something like, "hey! Watch where you're going!" Still others would go on to push themselves to do great things because they were blessed with words like, "wow, it's an honor to meet you."

Others weren't so lucky. And being a young boy who, from the time he could read, learned from his words that he was going to go blind at some point in his life was difficult by its own right. Knowing that his soulmate was going to hold that fact against him was almost unbearable. Sure that's where something like a counselor would come in handy, but that wasn't something the Murdocks could afford. And so it was that his words started him down a darker path in life, especially after hearing his father be murdered.

On the other hand, knowing that your soulmate was going to reject you was freeing in a way. Matt wasn't burdened by trying to become a man she (he was fairly confident it was a female) would want to be with because he already knew she wouldn't. He took what he knew- fighting taught to him first by being around his father's life and later by Stick as well as everything learned in pursuit of his law school degree- with him to protect the people of Hell's Kitchen or wherever he happened to be at any given moment.

As it was, he was walking down the streets of Trenton, New Jersey investigating a drug cartel operating in the tri-state area when he noticed the sounds of someone being chased a distance away. Quickly reasoning out where they were and the most likely path that would be taken, Matt made sure to be in their path as he figured out what was going on.

When the person in the back turned out to be a woman and he could hear her voice yelling out, "stop! Bond enforcement!" followed by a string of curses from the man in the front, he knew what he had to do. They were running past a deserted alley when Matt grabbed the man, pulled him into the shadows and restrained him. Wordlessly he took the cuffs the woman handed him while trying to catch her breath and stood once more, holding onto the man with one hand and grabbing up his white cane from where it had fallen to the ground.

"Oh that's just great, you're blind," the woman blurted out. Then she began rambling to herself, "maybe you should apply to the safety pin factory after all, Steph. I know you're worried about stabbing yourself day in and day out until you decide to just stab your eyes out, but if a blind man can perform a takedown that you as a professional bounty hunter can't make, it must be time to quit."

The rest of the world dimmed a little as Matt took in her words. It wasn't that she was upset that he was blind and was rejecting him- in fact, she didn't yet realize who he was to her. Rather she was upset with herself for what she perceived as being inferior at her job.

Unable to let her berate herself any longer, Matt finally managed to clear his throat and say, "it's a little more complicated than that."

The woman's head snapped in his direction, and if he wasn't mistaken, she actually sounded excited as she said, "holy crap, it's you!"

"Matt Murdock," he said, shifting his cane out of the way and holding out his hand to her. "And why don't we escort this man to the police station then have a chat."

"Stephanie Plum," she said with a smile in her voice as she shook his hand. "You can call me Steph."

When he held on, she didn't pull away, though he did have to hide a smile as she tried valiantly to guide him through the streets in a manner that was helpful to his blindness.

Their pace was slow, and their prisoner was less than pleased about his situation. Still, when they made it to her car, he happily let her take over the man to shackle him in back while Matt settled himself into the front seat. He was unwilling to let her get too far away from him while he worked on mentally grasping this turn he never expected his life to take.

They'd only made it a few steps into the police station when a voice called out, "you bringing them _with_ attorneys now, Steph? You gotta make our lives even harder? It's bad enough we have to constantly clean up your messes!"

Matt felt her jolt in surprise before he sensed her turning to him. Her confusion was clear in her voice as she asked, "what?"

"I'm an attorney," Matt whispered. "And I've done some defense work."

The voice came closer, and Matt identified the man moving forward as he said, "Nelson and Murdock, they had a big case a little while ago. That Frank Castle guy who pled guilty after tearing up Hell's Kitchen."

Matt grimaced as he said, "we actually closed the office after losing that case, I'm merely accompanying Miss Plum as she turns in this man. I'm not representing him."

"Jesus Christ, Cupcake!" A new voice moving fast came in from the side. "You're asking blind men to help you now? What, Ranger throw you over and refuse to help you anymore?"

Steph let out a sigh and said, "Joe, this is Matt. Matt, this is my ex, Joe Morelli."

Then she continued in the direction they'd been walking, ignoring the rest of the ribbing and questions called out to her. Matt felt his hands clenching into fists, and relaxed only when Steph gently ran her hand along one of his arms and whispered that it was okay. It wasn't okay, but if she didn't want a scene, he wouldn't cause one. It would be difficult to do without revealing himself to be more than just a blind lawyer anyway.

Thirty minutes later, he was hesitantly following her into her apartment, the two having waited to offer their explanations to each other so far by unspoken agreement.

"It's not much," she said awkwardly, and he could tell that her hand kind of flapped around nervously.

"I really can't tell," he said with a wry smile. She laughed and then covered her mouth, so he reassured her, "it's okay; it was a joke."

"So, how did you-" she cut off her question when Matt held up a hand, sensing someone else in the apartment.

"He's the Devil of Hell's Kitchen," a voice he quickly recognized said.

Matt let out an honest to God laugh of surprise and then asked, "Ranger?" When Steph's ex had said the name, he'd assumed it was a coincidence, but there was the man himself.

Steph threw her hands up in the air and said, "great, Ranger knows more about my soulmate than I do!"

"Soulmate?" Ranger said, pausing thoughtfully. Finally he nodded his head and pronounced, "he might just be able to keep you out of trouble, Steph. Or at least keep you safe while you're in it. I'll leave him to explain."

"Are you two…?" Matt asked at the same time Steph shot out, "how do you know Ranger?"

There was an awkward pause, but Steph broke it first saying, "no. There were a handful of nights here and there but not currently and not for a while. He's more just mentor and friend at this point."

Matt nodded, accepting her word. It was likely Ranger wouldn't have left Matt alone with "his woman" anyway if he had one.

"I can't tell you how I know Ranger," Matt offered remorsefully. "But if you'd like, I can tell you the rest of it?"

With a nod, Steph guided him over to her couch so they could sit side by side and begin what was bound to be a long, difficult conversation. But Matt had hope that maybe, just maybe, if fate had chosen to bring them together the way it had, Steph would be the woman who would be able to accept him as he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying (and struggling) to ease my way back into writing with oneshots, so if you have any prompts, soulmate or otherwise, please send them along! You can also find me on Tumblr as [jdho2](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jdho2).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unexpected Destiny](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4506048) by [jdho2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdho2/pseuds/jdho2)




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